wegian station that has reached our times, is situated in a valley, on the banks of the river Glass.

At Ballacurry there is a fine old fortified camp. It is not older than the time of the civil wars, and was probably erected by Duckenfield in the time of the Commonwealth. It is thus described by Colonel Townley:-" It is more complete than any I have seen in England of that time; the situation of it is most eligible, being formed on a small natural eminence in a very level district. The internal square, on which the troops encamped, is a level piece of ground, sunk so much below the bastions and curtains as effectually to secure the troops within from any attack of fire-arms from without; this space is one hundred and fifty feet long, and one hundred and twenty feet broad; the fosse is twenty feet wide, and the outer rampart is twelve feet high. There are four noble bastions, one at each corner, sixty feet in diameter. There is no breach in any part of the works, which favours the supposition that the troops retained peaceable possession of their fortified camp.'"

When Queen Elizabeth, as previously noticed, temporarily assumed the government of the Island, she was apprehensive that the disputed claims to the sovereignty might induce the Spaniards or Scots to land troops there for invading her territories. With a view to prevent which, she caused a circular fort to be erected on an islet, called St. Mary's, at the entrance of Derbyhaven. The walls of this fort are eight feet thick; and the figures 1603, over the door-way, point out the date of its erection.3

The harbour of Ramsey was also formerly protected by a fortification, built by James Earl of Derby, about

1 Townley's Journal kept in the Isle of Man, Whitehaven, 1791, vol. i, p. 160. 2 Vide ante, p. 176.

3 Seacome's History of the House of Stanley, p. 72.

the year 1648, and named by him Fort Loyal, but no vestige of it now remains.'

At the bight of the Pollock Rock, the original entrance to the harbour of Douglas, there also stood an

old fort, not many

years ago taken

down. This Gothic act deprived the Isle of Man of a structure perhaps more ancient than any other in the British dominions. The Romans, Saxons, and Danes built circular towers or raths of large masses of unhewn stone, cemented with lime obtained by burning shells from the sea-shore. The roof was formed of an arch, made of the same materials: and the battlements crowned the summit of the walls all round.2 The Pictish tower was still more ancient, and was only distinguishable from the rath by a small turret that rose from the centre a little above the battlements. The old fort of Douglas had this distinguishing mark, and was evidently of very high antiquity. If we can credit Waldron's report,-"The great Caratake, brother of Boadicea, Queen of Britain, concealed here his nephew from the fury of the Romans, who were in pursuit of him, after having vanquished the queen and slain all her other children. There is, certainly, a very strong secret apartment under ground in it, having no passage to it but by a hole which is covered with a large

1 Feltham, p. 163.

2 The tower of Orchardton, in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright, on the property of Colonel Maxwell, is a fine specimen of the Danish rath. It is forty feet high; the wall, which is circular, is six feet thick; and the inside diameter is fifteen feet, thereby corresponding with the form, and nearly with the dimensions of the Old Fort of Douglas.

3 See Bleau's Map of the Isle of Man, published at Amsterdam, 1658.

stone, and is called to this day,The Great Man's Chamber."

This venerable remnant of antiquity, as already mentioned, was recklessly thrown down several years ago.The Bay of Douglas is now defended by a small fort of modern erection, mounting two eighteen-pounders. The Calf, too, was formerly defended by a good garrison, although little trace of it is now to be seen.*

Peel Castle, the palace of the Stanleys, is situated on

a rocky islet, of about two hundred yards diameter, formed at the north-east termination of Peel Hill, from which it is separated by a narrow creek. Adjoining the harbour, this space has been filled up by a strong stone wall, of modern erection, broad at the bottom and bevelled towards the top, till contracted into the breadth of a moderate foot-path, along which the visitant may proceed to the main gate of the Castle, at the southern point of the rock. Before the erection of this breakwater, a person wishing to visit the Castle, could only approach it by

1 Waldron, p. 152.

2 Camden's Britannia, vol. ii, p. 1440. 8 Ward's Ancient Records, p. 27.

Grose's Antiq. of England, vol. iv.

sailing or wading, according to the state of the tide, across the streamlet which forms the harbour of Peel, and separates the garrison from the mainland.

The ascent to the garrison was by a flight of steps cut in the rock, and strongly cramped with iron; but they are now so much worn as to be of little use to the visitant, who is obliged to clamber up the rocky steep. From the point where the first flight of steps terminates, others, turning to the left, lead through an arched gateway in the side of a square tower, which surmounts on the right the dark vaulted guard-room of "Mauthe Doog" celebrity.*1

66

Proceeding through this passage of "dim light and dark fame," you emerge into the castle-yard, from the centre of which may be distinctly seen the battlemented walls in the form of an irregular polygon, built of coarse grey stones, coigned and faced in many parts with a red grit found in the neighbourhood; the whole enclosing an area of five acres. Upwards of a century's decay has materially altered the lofty description by Waldron :Though now, no more than a garrison in ruins, you can not enter it without being struck with a veneration which the most beautiful buildings of later years cannot inspire. The largeness and loftiness of the rooms-the vast echo resounding through them-the many winding galleriesthe prospect from the sea-and the ships, which, by reason of the height of the place, seem like buoys floating on the waves below, make you fancy yourself in a superior orb to what the rest of mankind inhabit." The pillar tower is of high antiquity.*

Having passed the first, you have other stairs of nearly

* Appendix, Note iii, "Legend of the Moddey Doo."

1 Mauthe Doog is erroneously given by Waldron as the Manks for "Black Dog," which I have taken the liberty of correcting.

2 Waldron, p. 109.

* Appendix, Note iv, "Round Towers."

half the number with the former to mount, before you come at the second wall. This, like the other, is full of port-holes for cannon, which are planted on stone crosses,' -a singular kind of carriage for heavy ordnance.

The death of Olave, king of Man, which took place at Peel in the year 1237, is the first mention I find made of this fortress, although it is supposed to have been a place of defence long before that time. Previous to the invention of fire-arms the Castle of Peel was considered to be one of the strongest in the British Isles; and this circumstance, added to its isulated situation, caused it frequently to be occupied as a state prison."

In 1397, Thomas, Earl of Warwick, who was one of the Duke of Gloucester's party, was convicted of high treason, but on account of his submissive behaviour, his life was spared, and his sentence commuted to perpetual banishment in the Isle of Man, where he was committed to Peel Castle, but was afterwards recalled, and his accuser, Lord Scrope, Earl of Wiltshire, was beheaded without any formal trial.3

In the year 1447, Eleanor Cobham, spouse of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, uncle of king Henry VI, and lord protector of England, was, through the malice of the Duke of Suffolk and the Cardinal of Winchester, accused of associating with witches and wizards' to circumvent the life of the king, and obtain the crown for her husband;

1 Waldron, p. 104.

2 Banks's Universal Geography, folio 936; Camden, vol. ii. p. 1447.

3 Tyrrell, vol. iii, part ii, p. 968; Trussel's Continuation of Daniel's Collection of the History of England, p. 22.

4 "In the reign of Henry VI, among other friends of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, his Duchess, dame Eleanor, was arrested. Roger Bolyngbroke, a man expert in nycromancye, and a woman called Margery Jourdemain, surnamed the Witch of Eye, were charged with having, at the request of the Duchess of Gloucester, devysed an ymage of wax lyke unto the kynge, the whych ymage theye dealt so with that by theyr devyllish sorcery, they intended to brynge the kynge out of lyfe, for the whych reason they were adjudged to die."-Falgan Chronicle, 394; vide also Grafton's Chronicle, p. 587.