Town Centre Walk

1 Market Place

This area was called The Lake prior to 1835 when work was started to fill it in. The Lamp Standard and Silver Fountain (no longer silver) were erected to commemorate Ramsey’s incorporation as a Town in 1865. The disappearance of the two steps up to the fountain indicates how much the level of this area has been raised over the years.

2 The Commercial

The plot and its buildings can be traced to the end of the 17th Century, and it has been licensed since the mid 1800s.

3 The Saddle Hotel Building

Now a night club, the original Saddle Inn (dating from at least 1846) stood behind, facing the Courthouse. The present building was erected in 1892; the name is engraved below two saddles on the front facade.

The Market Place

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4 The Royal George

Known as The Royal Hotel (1852), when it consisted only of the right-hand part of the present Royal George. A Good Friday custom around 1865 involved children, hands tied behind their backs, trying to eat buns dipped in treacle and feathers, which were suspended on ropes between the hotel and adjacent shop. Next to, and incorporating the left-hand portion of The Royal George, stood the popular Royal Oak Dining Rooms.

5 The Harbour Bistro

On the corner of East Quay is The Harbour Bistro, known as the Union Hotel in 1837.

The Saddle Inn Building

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6 Parliament Street

On your right is the rear entrance to The Saddle Buildings, where the original Saddle once faced the Courthouse, with smithy and brewery behind.

7 The Courthouse (Thie Ny Cooyrtey)

Built around 1800 by the same architect as The Castle Mona, it was a Court of Law, but also used for social functions (the interior fittings were designed to be removable for the purpose). On the grassed area is The War Memorial Cross, from the design of PMC Kermode.

8 The Mitre Hotel

One of Ramsey’s oldest inns, a hotel has been on this site since at least 1787. It was substantially rebuilt in 1840.

9 Court Row

There are two fine buildings on the right, the first one has a hoist on the side from when it was a large grocer’s store. On the ‘Court Row’ sign is a plaque in Manx, placed there by The Manx Language Society, which translates as ‘In loving memory of William Radcliffe, a true Manx speaker, 1917 - 1984’. (If you wish to go deeper into the history of Ramsey and Maughold you could do no better than read William & Constance Radcliffe’s publications).

10 Water Street

This area was developed in the early 1800s. At the rear of number 19 Parliament Street were the printing works for the Ramsey Courier, started in 1884. Turn to your left, past what were the Masonic Buildings (1889). Next are old livery stables and number 2A, with hoist still retained on upper floor.

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11 Banker’s Court

Built by Daniel Callow in 1889/90 as a northern branch of the ill-fated Dumbell’s Bank, it was described at the time as ‘the most ornate edifice in town’. It originally had a dome which was removed in the 1920s.

12 Manx Electric Railway Station

Originally called Tramways and Electric Power Company, the electric railway came to Ballure in 1898 and to Ramsey in 1899. Its kiosks and benches were similar to those still existing at Laxey Station. A Visitors’ Centre (opened by request in summer season) houses the Planet Locomotive which ran on The Queen’s Pier.

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The MER Station with The Palace & Bankers Court

13 Quayles Hall

Completed as the result of a petition (in 1830) for a Presbyterian Church for the many Scots settled in Ramsey, it was commonly known as the Scotch Kirk. The ‘Bayr Chibbyragh’ road sign refers to Chibbyr Y Woirrey, a well in Coronation Park said to have healing properties.

14 Albert Road School

Opened in 1905 it was the focus of the revival of Manx folk music and dance in the 1920s when Mona Douglas, assisted by teacher Leighton Stowell, coached a team of pupils in Manx dance. In 1977 Mona organised a three-day Ramsey Manx Festival (Feailley Vanninagh Rhumsaa), forerunner to Yn Chruinnaght, the annual Celtic Festival in July. Ramsey now boasts two Celtic Festivals with Shennaghys Jiu held at Easter.

15 Tower Street

Known as Pump Road in the early 1800s. Where new office buildings stand, there used to be a brewery, 18th-century tanyard, and a pump. Before the last building on the right in Tower Street are some remains of The Victoria Hotel (1820s).

16 Parliament Street

The smaller building of the store Looneys (Number 32) was formerly The Crown built in 1803. A murder occurred here in 1910 when the landlord shot a housemaid, then turned the gun on himself. Crossing over the road and looking back at the building on the corner of Tower Street (1864) note the ornamentation along the roof line resembling spiked cannon balls (a good reason for looking up above shop front level, especially on windy days!). On your right is The Plough. Built by John Kelly in 1806, it has been The Plough since at least 1824. On the west side are the handsome Victoria Buildings - built by Robert Corkhill. At the corner of Christian Street (Corlett’s Opticians) is where PMC Kermode was born. There is a commemorative plaque on the wall. His sister Josephine (the poet Cushag) was also born here in 1852.

17 Auckland Terrace and West House

Most of these houses still have their original architectural features. One housed the first bank to offer a full, modern banking service (in 1834).

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The Old Town Hall

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18 Town Hall

The original, built in 1888/9, was a handsome building and unique in that it also housed Ramsey Fire Brigade. Sadly demolished in 1971, its replacement was also demolished in 2000. In the construction of the new Town Hall an old ecclesiastical boundary, the Lickney, was slightly altered. A corruption of Leighany, meaning Rushy Place, it is a stream at the western entrance to Ramsey, on the boundary between Maughold and Lezayre. It can be seen over the wall at the front of The Swan public house, from where it flows under the Town Hall into the harbour.

19 The Central

Formerly High Bailiff Tellet’s residence, it was opened as a public house in 1889. The smoke-room bar was once a replica of a Manx kitchen.

20 The Railway Station

On the site of Ramsey Bakery, it was built in 1878 to transport lead ore from the Foxdale mines to the harbour. All that remains now are sections of wall. Emerging into Derby Road, on the opposite side of the harbour, is a green pre-fabricated building which housed the RAF Marine Corp (Craft) Unit which serviced the Air Sea Rescue Unit in the 1940’s.

21 In West Street on the left-hand corner of the land behind Auckland Terace, is a stone set upright in the wall to prevent cartwheel damage - a common feature in the days of horse and carts.

22 Collins Lane

On the corner was The Friendship Inn (1857). It was very popular with workers who could cross the harbour from the shipyard by way of a plank bridge.

23 The Swing Bridge

Opened in 1892 it was built in connection with the Mooragh Park and Promenade developments. Due to delays in its construction, compensation was paid by the Commissioners to developers of building plots on the new Mooragh Promenade.

24 The Rowrey or Old Post Office Lane

This alleyway to Parliament Street may refer to the location of the first Post Office in Ramsey in 1781. Its alternative name may be a variation of the spelling Rourey, meaning a ridge of land at the end of a field (headland) - a reminder of times when there were gardens running down to the quayside.

25 The Ellan Vannin Plaque

This commemorates the Steam Packet vessel which sank approaching the River Mersey during severe weather on 3rd December 1909. All 21 crew and 14 passengers were lost.

Boys on the quay at Ramsey Harbour

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