Kirk Michael, Isle of Man

Historical Description

Kirk Michael, a village and a parish in the NW of the Isle of Man. The village stands on the coast, 7 miles NE of Peel, and has a post office (S.O.), the ecclesiastical court-house of the diocese of Sodor and Man. The parish contains 8772 acres; population, 1005. The mountains Slieu Dhoo, Slieu-ne-Fraughane, and Sartel or Sartfeld, with altitudes of 1139, 1607, and 1560 feet, are in the E; and four fine glens, Tronk, Balleira, Wyllin, and Mooar, descend from them to the coast. Bishops Court, the palace of the Bishop of Sodor and Man, is in the N. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Sodor and Man; gross value, £177 with residence. Patron, the Crown. The old church was partly rebuilt in 1776, and the new one was built in 1835, and is one of the largest in the island. The churchyard contains the graves of Bishops Wilson, Hildesley, and Criggan, and no fewer than seven Runic monuments, on one of which the Ogam alphabet is inscribed.

Maps

Online maps of Kirk Michael are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)