Memorials

In addition to the War Memorials, which are listed separately, there are a number of memorials around the Island, dedicated to those who gave their lives to good causes, were lost at sea, died in the TT, or have been killed in road traffic accidents. Notable monuments include:

The Kaye Memorial Gardens at the base of Summerhill. The gardens were originally completed in 1955, as a memorial to the Mayor and Mayoress of Douglas, Joseph and Sarah Jane Kaye but is now more commonly known as the Summerland Memorial Garden. Three stones form its centrepiece, inscribed with the fifty people, including children, who lost their lives in the fire of 1973, at the Summerland leisure centre.

A granite bollard and plinth, a gift form the Isle of Whithorn, found on Douglas Head, marks the deaths of the seven crew from the Solway Harvester who drowned off the coast in 2000. There is also a statue of Sir William Hillary, by Amanda Barton, dating from 1999, on Douglas Head with a further bronze bas-relief, created in 2002, in Douglas Sunken Gardens, dedicated to the RNLI.

In South Quay Harbour, there is a memorial plaque to the Douglas Herring Fleet dated 21st September 1787, when over twenty sailors were lost at sea, as recorded in a Manx ballad from 1896, called “Loss of the Herring Boats”.

Peel, Port St Mary and Port Erin, all have memorials to those lost at sea, next to the Sailor Shelters.

On one side of the Smelt Monument, in Castletown Square, is a wooden plaque that states Margaret Ine Quane and her son were burnt at the stake, near the spot, for witchcraft. There were two other witchcraft trials in the Island, however these were the only executions, in 1617. According to Professor Hutton ” It was an immensely traumatic case which divided the Island. After that the Manx never wanted it again.” The death penalty for witchcraft was abolished by the English Crown in 1736. The last witchcraft trial in England was in 1712 and in 1727 in Scotland. There is a Manx legend, that people found guilty of witchcraft were rolled down Slieau Whallian, in a spiked barrel but there is no evidence for it. However it is one of Sophia Morrison’s Manx Fairy Tales “The Witch of Slieu Whallian”.

In Malew Church there is a statue by Bryan Kneale in remembrance of the politician and Manx folk hero Illiam Dhone.

Henry William Madoc, served in the Boer War, became Chief Constable of the Island in 1911 and went on to become Commandant of the Prisoners of War Camp at Douglas. A keen ornithologist, he has a small memorial, that looks a bit like a bird bath, close to Langness farmhouse.

Corrin’s Folly, on Peel Hill, is a memorial to the wife of Thomas Corrin, who died in childbirth while Milner’s Tower, on Bradda Head, was built to honour the philanthropist William Milner. The Victoria Clock Tower in Foxdale is dedicated to Queen Victoria.

The Laxey Mines Statue, by Ongky Wijana, replaces an earlier simple wooden statue created to remember the miners who lost their lives in the Laxey Mines.

A Memorial Statue of Joey Dunlop, the legendary TT rider, sitting on his bike looks out over the course, close to “The Bungalow”.

Steve (Hizzy) Hislop, from Onchan, and eleven times winner of the TT, has a bronze statue and small memorial garden, to mark his death in 2003, which is located close to Onchan Park on Onchan Head.

On the main road in Ballaugh is a row of white cottages and on a gate post is a bronze Memorial Plaque to German National Champion, Karl Gall, who died in 1939 following an accident on Ballaugh Bridge, during practices for the TT.

There are several memorials along the roadsides, marking those who have died in traffic accidents and memorial benches, throughout the Island, where you invited to sit and reflect.