How they worked

Banks, ditches, keeps and lookouts

How the island’s forts and castles were built, defended and watched over.

Jump to: Iron Age forts | A stone castle | Guns and glacis | The Watch and Ward | The castle clock

Iron Age forts

“Iron Age fortification” covers sites of very different size, purpose and date. Manx National Heritage (archived gov.im page, 2012): Iron Age Fortifications

Builders used natural features such as hilltops, cliffs and headlands. Manx National Heritage (archived gov.im page, 2012): Iron Age Fortifications The defences were usually one or more banks or walls with a ditch outside. Manx National Heritage (archived gov.im page, 2012): Iron Age Fortifications

The outside of the bank was sometimes faced with an upright stone wall. Manx National Heritage (archived gov.im page, 2012): Iron Age Fortifications Some held villages of roundhouses; others enclosed just one building. Manx National Heritage (archived gov.im page, 2012): Iron Age Fortifications

At Cronk ny Merriu, an Iron Age bank and ditch cut off a headland to make a fort. Manx National Heritage (archived gov.im page, 2012): Cronk ny Merriu Its first defence was a stockade. A later rampart had a line of timber posts inside and a raised walkway. Manx National Heritage (archived gov.im page, 2012): Iron Age Fortifications

Close ny Chollagh is not a natural headland: a ditch dug from the end of a deep sea inlet made it defensible. Andrew Johnson, “Watch and Ward on the Isle of Man” (Scottish Society for Northern Studies, 2002)

Cronk Sumark is a small summit hillfort with vitrified ramparts: stone melted together by great heat. Manx National Heritage (archived gov.im page, 2012): Iron Age Fortifications

South Barrule’s outer defence was a belt of four or five lines of sloping timber stakes, called “chevaux de frise”. Manx National Heritage (archived gov.im page, 2012): Iron Age Fortifications

Ballanicholas is an inland promontory fort, almost filled by a single timber house. Manx National Heritage (archived gov.im page, 2012): Iron Age Fortifications

A stone castle

It stands on a narrow spit of land that was easy to defend yet easy to reach. Manx National Heritage: Castle Rushen Assessment of Significance (2017), on Planning Portal IoM It was built for a King of Man and the Isles, close to the limestone building stone at Scarlett. Manx National Heritage: Castle Rushen Assessment of Significance (2017), on Planning Portal IoM

The first stage, around 1200, was a great tower inside a ditch. Manx National Heritage: Castle Rushen Assessment of Significance (2017), on Planning Portal IoM In the 1330s and 1340s the tower was raised and towers were added to the south, west and east. Manx National Heritage: Castle Rushen Assessment of Significance (2017), on Planning Portal IoM

From the 1360s to the 1390s came the curtain wall, gatehouse, barbican and a new ditch. Manx National Heritage: Castle Rushen Assessment of Significance (2017), on Planning Portal IoM

Things to spot include the murder holes in the inner gatehouse and a gatehouse toilet, the “garderobe”. Manx National Heritage: Group visitor information for Castle Rushen There are 100 steps from the ground floor to the flag tower, the highest point. Manx National Heritage: Access Guide for Castle Rushen (2026)

The Treasury was once the most secure room on the island. Manx National Heritage: Castle Rushen

Almost every door and window of the medieval castle can still be traced. Manx National Heritage: Castle Rushen Assessment of Significance (2017), on Planning Portal IoM

Unlike Peel, Castle Rushen was built to a single plan: a “statement of royal power”. Peter Davey, “Manx archaeology in the high Middle Ages” (Scottish Society for Northern Studies, 2002) Davey calls it the Manx equivalent of the Anglo-Norman castle at Trim in Ireland. Peter Davey, “Manx archaeology in the high Middle Ages” (Scottish Society for Northern Studies, 2002)

The curtain wall also surrounds the later apartments of the Lords of Mann. Manx National Heritage: Group visitor information for Peel Castle

Guns and glacis

In 1536 to 1540 a round tower was built in the moat, with a sloping bank of earth called a glacis. Manx National Heritage: Castle Rushen Assessment of Significance (2017), on Planning Portal IoM

From 1639 to 1651 the defences were adapted, and a gun platform called the “New Worke” was built on the shore. Manx National Heritage: Castle Rushen Assessment of Significance (2017), on Planning Portal IoM

Derby Fort on St Michael’s Isle was built on the orders of King Henry VIII to keep out French or Spanish invaders. Manx National Heritage: St Michael’s Isle (Fort Island)

The Watch and Ward

Andrew Johnson suggests the reused forts were lookout posts in a coastal watch called the Watch and Ward. Andrew Johnson, “Watch and Ward on the Isle of Man” (Scottish Society for Northern Studies, 2002) A document of 1627 lists the wardens of the day watch and the night watch. Andrew Johnson, “Watch and Ward on the Isle of Man” (Scottish Society for Northern Studies, 2002)

Day watchers sat on hills with views out to sea; night watchers stood near the places boats could land. Andrew Johnson, “Watch and Ward on the Isle of Man” (Scottish Society for Northern Studies, 2002) Several hills are named Cronk ny Arrey Laa, “hill of the day watch”. Andrew Johnson, “Watch and Ward on the Isle of Man” (Scottish Society for Northern Studies, 2002)

Hango Broogh may have been a beacon: a fire pit held charred gorse, good for lighting quickly. Andrew Johnson, “Watch and Ward on the Isle of Man” (Scottish Society for Northern Studies, 2002)

Burroo Ned is cut off by a 150-metre rampart; holes in the rock may have held signal posts. Andrew Johnson, “Watch and Ward on the Isle of Man” (Scottish Society for Northern Studies, 2002)

Cronk ny Merriu overlooks Port Grenaugh, the only possible landing place on a rocky stretch of coast. Andrew Johnson, “Watch and Ward on the Isle of Man” (Scottish Society for Northern Studies, 2002) A silver penny of Edward I was later found by chance near Cronk ny Merriu’s rampart. Andrew Johnson, “Watch and Ward on the Isle of Man” (Scottish Society for Northern Studies, 2002)

The Cronk ny Merriu house was 11 by 4.3 metres inside, with raised benches along its long walls. Andrew Johnson, “Watch and Ward on the Isle of Man” (Scottish Society for Northern Studies, 2002) Manx National Heritage describes the later Cronk ny Merriu building as part of a system of coastal lookout posts. Manx National Heritage (archived gov.im page, 2012): Cronk ny Merriu

At Vowlan near Ramsey, the first site to be dug, the excavator Bersu thought six buildings were huts for guards left by Viking raiders. Andrew Johnson, “Watch and Ward on the Isle of Man” (Scottish Society for Northern Studies, 2002)

Johnson argues the forts make poor farms: exposed, hard to reach and with no water supply. Andrew Johnson, “Watch and Ward on the Isle of Man” (Scottish Society for Northern Studies, 2002)

This is an interpretation, not a settled fact: see what were the reused forts for?

The castle clock

Its wooden-framed turret clock probably dates from the late 1500s and is one of only a handful of its kind to survive. Manx National Heritage: Castle Rushen’s medieval clock to undergo specialist conservation

The clock had no face until about 1720; today’s one-handed face dates from the 1980s. Manx National Heritage: Castle Rushen’s medieval clock to undergo specialist conservation

It is believed to be a gift from Queen Elizabeth I, but no document has yet been found to prove it. Manx National Heritage: Castle Rushen’s medieval clock to undergo specialist conservation Its style, design and radiocarbon dating fit that belief. Manx National Heritage: Castle Rushen’s medieval clock to undergo specialist conservation

The specialists looking after it also restored the Great Clock of Westminster, known as Big Ben. Manx National Heritage: Castle Rushen’s medieval clock to undergo specialist conservation

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