Context 153 - March 2018

26 C O N T E X T 1 5 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 8 farm buildings, with Ballabeg having the best surviving group of limestone cottages.The quarries are no longer worked for limestone, but Billown still produces lime, and the decorative PoyllVaish ‘marble’ (a black limestone traditionally used for fireplace surrounds) is once again in limited production. Red Devonian sandstone is restricted to the headlands north of Peel. Anecdotally,5 there were three quarries, one producing a hard stone, difficult to work, and the other two producing soft, easily-worked stone. Masons preferred to work the latter,which erodes quite rapidly on exposure to the salt-laden humid atmosphere, especially when laid contra-bed. It is not unusual in Peel to see buildings with imported brick and terracotta street facades and sandstone rear and side walls. On the northern plain, which is a raised beach, stone was imported from other parts of the island, or rough clamp-fired local brick was used, drawing on sand robbed from the beach. In parts of the south there is distinctive use of large squared granite and quartz stones, especially as quoins. The walls of earthen dwellings, barns and cowhouses varied according to the nature of the ground that the materials were drawn from. Good clay was used where it was available, and elsewhere sods and turves were cut and placed upside down in short Queen Street, at the end of The Parade, Castletown, with a slate-hung seaward gable, photographed prior to demolition in 1952. Note the diminishing courses, with tiny slates on chimney. (Manx National Heritage photo by R Eichorn, 1951, re-photographed by the author) Ballachrink, Malew, is an archetypal large Manx farmhouse.The central gablet is possibly a later addition. Note the stacks on both gables, dairy extension to the rear, Manx slate roof, small parapet on gable verges and lime rendering, and the absence of dormers or attic lights. Could be late-17th century. (Manx National Heritage photo MNH PG 5647/452, re-photographed by the author) Ohio Cottage, Andreas, with central open porch, built in local clamp-fired brick on the northern plain. Slate hanging protects porous brick on an exposed gable. (Manx National Heritage photo by R Eichorn, 1950s, re-photographed by the author) Footnote 5 Personal conversation with former builder, 1993 plugs), round beach and river stones (Kirk Michael and northern plain) and a small incursion of Devonian red sandstone (Peel). Erratics were also a source of building stone. The limestone, used both ‘in the rough’ and dressed, has proved very robust, well able to withstand the severe coastal exposure. Lamplugh (1903) praised its durability, as evinced by Castle Rushen, while describing the colour as ‘somewhat dingy’. The use of this limestone for building work was quite localised, being rarely found outside Castletown, Derbyhaven, Ballasalla and Ballabeg, but it was shipped to Port St Mary for buildings close to the harbour. It was used both for prestigious buildings (Castle Rushen) and modest cottages and