{"id":220,"date":"2026-07-29T04:15:04","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T04:15:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mikecaine.im\/?page_id=220"},"modified":"2026-08-02T11:02:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T11:02:58","slug":"howstrake-place-names","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/mikecaine.im\/index.php\/howstrake-place-names\/","title":{"rendered":"Howstrake Place Names"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Historic Landscape \u2022 Place Names & Heritage<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Howstrake\nPlace\n Names<\/span><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Discover the origins and meanings behind the historic place names of Howstrake and its surrounding area. Rooted in Manx and Old Norse traditions, these names reveal centuries of local history, geography, and folklore, preserving the cultural heritage of one of the Isle of Man’s most distinctive coastal landscapes.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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An account, published in 1873, of the procedures adopted during the course of work by the Ordnance Survey, noted that “..the greatest care [is] taken to obtain the correct orthography of the [place] names…The examiner obtaining the names with the residential authorities…..these are further verified by the superintendent of the party…..who compares the names locally collected with those on the estate and other maps to which he has obtained access..”. The information which resulted from the enquiries was recorded in\u00a0 Name Books which were stored in the Ordnance Survey archives at Southampton. These books might well have provided alternative names, or clues to the origins of names in Howstrake, but they were destroyed in air raids during the 1939\/45 war.

Balnehow, Balnahow<\/strong>
These are abbreviated forms of BALLA NY HOWE, Manx for the farm of the headland.

Bank’s Harbour<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 See Onchan Harbour

Bank’s Howe<\/strong>
Named after the Bank’s family who owned the farm of Balnehow which was later known as Howstrake.

Bank’s Point<\/strong>
The cliff top at the highest point of the King Edward Road where the former Howstrake Holiday Camp tram stop shelter is situated. The name appears on a map by Edward Weller F.R.G.S. for the Weekly Dispatch Atlas of 1860.

Brither Clip Gut<\/strong>
“Gut” is an English word meaning a narrow channel or strait. This particular gut separates a large isolated rock from the cliff below Majestic View. Kneen, in his Place Names, states that the origin of “Brither Clip” is obscure but suggests that it may derive from a shipwreck at this spot and, indeed, there is a folk memory of a Dutch ship being wrecked here. The name predates the 1869 Ordnance Survey and is of Old Norse origin. Clip derives from Old Norse Kleppr meaning a rock, (Norwegian – Klippe; Danish – Klippa). The meaning of Brither was obscure. Rev. R.L. Thompson suggested the possibility that Brither derives from Broadra meaning “of the brothers” giving Brothers’ Rock.

Professor Marstrander confirmed in his \u2018Remarks on the Place-Names of the Isle of Man\u2019, N.T.S. VII (Oslo 1934) that the first two elements represent Norwegian\u00a0 \u201cBRODRA KLEPPARNER\u201d,\u00a0 \u201cbrother cliffs. He added that BRODRA, \u201cbrother\u201d and SYSTRA, \u201csister\u201d, are used in Norway to describe such rocks.

Groudle<\/strong>
The name derives from the Norse ESJU-DALR, (or old Norse ESCADALA) which in English means CLAY DALE. CLAY HEAD has a similar origin in ESCA NESS. In the 1511 Manorial Roll CLAY DALE had become CRAWDALE. By 1794 the name had been corrupted to CROWDALE and by 1860 to GROWDALE and, eventually,to GROUDLE. Groudle Beach was known as ESCADALA-VIK in Norse, meaning Clay Dale Creek. (Eskdale in Cumbria and Eskdalemuir in Scotland probably have the same Norse origin.)

Happy Valley<\/strong>
The name is a commonly used alternative for Onchan Harbour and derives from a pierrot show, the Happy Valley Arena, which was operated by Charles Dare in 1912 and 1913 on the brows overlooking Onchan Harbour.

Howstrake<\/strong>
Howstrake means the track over the headland and comes from the Norse HOFUDSTROKR. It is assumed to follow the present Groudle Road from St Peter’s Church to the beach at Groudle.

Howstrake Farm<\/strong>
The name was used from about 1808 in place of Balnehow.

Lag Birragh<\/strong>
Manx for the hollow with sharp pointed stones or rocks. This is the precipitous inlet on the coast below Bank’s Point. The name of the Mansion House, which in 1922 became the Hotel Majestic, was changed to Lag Birragh and in Kneen’s Place Names the “sharp pointed stones” are identified, wrongly, as being the coast below the Hotel Majestic.

Lhergy<\/strong>
The word indicates a slope in Manx and was a former name of Port Jack Glen.

Onchan Bay<\/strong>
The title used by the photographer Hough of Port Jack for a photograph of Onchan Harbour which appeared in the Board of Advertising Guide for 1907. The name also occurs in “Beyond the Silver Stream in Manxland” of around 1894 or 1895.

Kirk Onchan Creek<\/strong>
A name used on Admiralty charts to indicate Onchan Harbour.

Onchan Glen<\/strong>
A name occasionally used for Port Jack Glen. The name also appears in “Beyond the Silver Streak in Manxland” where it refers to the brows of Onchan Harbour.

Onchan Harbour<\/strong>
Onchan Harbour was also known as Port Bankes, Port Conchan, Kirk Onchan Creek and is still known locally as Happy Valley.

Onchan Head<\/strong>
The headland between Port Jack and Onchan Harbour where the King Edward Bay Apartments are sited. Formerly the site of the White City Amusement Park.

Onchan Point<\/strong>
The name given for Onchan Head on Capt. Hans Busk’s map of 1861

Port Bankes<\/strong>\u00a0 See Onchan Harbour.

Port Cooyn<\/strong>\u00a0 See under Port Jack.

Port-E-Vada<\/strong>
The former creek now occupied by the depot of the Manx Electric Railway. The name is a corruption of Port-e-Vaatey meaning the Port of the Boat. The name signifies that it was large enough to accomodate only a small boat and not a large vessel. Sometimes written as Port-y-Artay.

Port Conchan<\/strong>
Another name for Onchan Harbour. Used on 1627 map showing the Watch and Ward sites.

Port Jack<\/strong>
Originally known as Port Cooyn, (Feltham 1798 and Kneale’s Guide c. 1860), the narrow port. The present name appears to be a relatively modern English one, although it does date back to before the 1869 Ordnance Survey.

Port-Y-Artay<\/strong>
A variant of Port-e-Vada used by Feltham in 1798 and in Kneale’s Guide of c. 1860.

Raad Ny Foillan<\/strong>
This is a modern conception of linking up rights of way to form a walking route around the Island’s coast. It is Manx for the Way of the Gull.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Historic Landscape \u2022 Place Names & Heritage Howstrake Place Names Discover the origins and meanings behind the historic place names of Howstrake and its surrounding area. Rooted in Manx and Old Norse traditions, these names reveal centuries of local history, geography, and folklore, preserving the cultural heritage of one of the Isle of Man’s most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_header_footer","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-220","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nHowstrake Place Names - Mike's Test Page<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mikecaine.im\/index.php\/howstrake-place-names\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Howstrake Place Names - Mike's Test Page\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Historic Landscape \u2022 Place Names & Heritage Howstrake Place Names Discover the origins and meanings behind the historic place names of Howstrake and its surrounding area. 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