Historic Buildings Architect/Surveyor
Thornbank, Douglas: Architects rendering for restoration of Baillie-Scott House owned by MNH (Horncastle:Thomas)
Information for Applicants
Manx National Heritage Historic Buildings Architect/Surveyor
Our Organisation
Manx National Heritage (MNH) is the trading name given to the Manx Museum and National Trust. The Trust was constituted in 1886 with the purpose of creating a national museum of Manx heritage and culture and has grown steadily in scope and reach and it is now the Islands statutory heritage agency.
MNH exists to take a lead in protecting, conserving, making accessible and celebrating the Island’s natural and cultural heritage for current and future generations whilst contributing to the Island’s prosperity and quality of life
MNH is a small organisation sponsored but operating at arm’s length from the Isle of Man Government. Our small properties management team is responsible for thirteen principle sites of historic and landscape significance, an array of field monuments and around 3000 acres of land. MNH welcomes around 400,000 visits to its properties every year and is also home to the National Museum, the National Archives and the National Art Gallery.
Our Vision, principles and values
MNH’s vision is “Securing the Future of Our Past”.
Underpinning this vision are key principles and values which guide everyone who works for the organisation as they conduct their core business and their decision-making.
Being led by and responsive to our visitors and users Working in collaboration Being open and transparent Providing value for money Making the most of our assets Using evidence-led decision-making and feedback from our users Providing equality of access Promoting and using the Manx Language Preserving and promoting traditional skills Consulting with key stakeholders and our community on what we do Managing risk and being safe Aiming for continuous improvement and developing our team
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Manx National Heritage Historic Buildings Architect/Surveyor
Purpose
Our strategic purposes can be summarised as follows:
Look after MMNT buildings and lands Look after MMNT collections Protect the Island’s wider heritage and landscape Increase access by users and visitors to Manx culture, landscape, heritage, and MMNT collections and information Understand and promote Manx culture, landscape and heritage Manage ourselves effectively
The Role
We are seeking an architect or building surveyor with a strong background in the conservation, repair and development of historic buildings and monuments who will share our vision and is passionate about a sustainable future for the historic built environment.
Your professional skills and experience will ensure that the historic assets in the care of MNH are recorded, maintained and repaired and that projects of all sizes are delivered on time and on budget to the highest professional standards. You will advise, coach and inspire your colleagues while managing external consultants and contractors bringing them together into high performing teams.
You will bring great interpersonal and leadership skills together with a genuine enthusiasm for promoting the conservation of the historic environment through public engagement, training and practical conservation activities.
Knowledge of the Manx/UK planning system, relevant legislation and best practice is essential.
Partnership working
MNH is committed to improving how it manages and cares for historic environment. This often requires liaison with other organisations outside of MNH, including the relevant government departments and non-governmental organisations. MNH is increasingly enjoying the practical support and enthusiasm of volunteers in delivering its services and our aspiration is to continue to make more opportunities for our friends and supporters to make a tangible and personally rewarding contribution to our work.
The following includes information on some of the unique sites that you can expect to work on if you are successful in applying for this role.
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Manx National Heritage Historic Buildings Architect/Surveyor
Peel Castle
As fascinating as it is beautiful, St Patrick’s Isle is one of the most important historic and religious sites in the British Isles.
Located on the west coast of the Isle of Man, it is dominated by the sprawling ruins of Peel Castle, the first fortifications of which were built by King Magnus Barelegs of Norway in the 11th century.
The Manx name for the town of Peel is Purt-ny-Hinshey, which means ‘Harbour of the Island’, the island being St Patrick’s. Tiny chips of flint, used to barb harpoons and arrows, tell us that the earliest known visitors to St Patrick’s Isle were nomadic hunter-gatherers during the Middle Stone (Mesolithic) Age, around 6000BC.
Later visitors settled on the Isle, and on the northern end of Peel Hill a large area of blackened earth reveals one of the sites of their fires. There may well have been a similar settlement on the other side of the River Neb, where the town is today. Excavations within Peel Castle during the 1980s found post holes of circular dwellings, dating from between 650BC and 600AD.
The Isle was first known by its Gaelic name, Inis-patrick (Patrick’s Isle), and the Norsemen called it Holm (island), Patricksholm and Holm-Patrick.
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Manx National Heritage Historic Buildings Architect/Surveyor
A Celtic monastery was established on St Patrick’s Isle, most likely by followers of St Patrick from Ireland, with the earliest carved stone crosses found on the Isle dating from the 9th century.
The Vikings settled the Isle of Man around 800, but another three centuries passed before the chieftain Magnus Barelegs built the first recorded fortification on St Patrick’s Isle.
With the end of Viking rule in 1266, ownership of the Isle of Man – which was key to control of the Irish Sea – changed hands several times between England and Scotland, until the English finally won out after the Battle of Neville’s Cross near Durham in 1346.
By this stage, St German’s Cathedral had been built within the Castle grounds and the Lords of Mann refortified St Patrick’s Isle during the 14th century, creating many of the walls and towers that are visible today.
Peel Castle was the joint seat of Government (with Castle Rushen in the south of the Island) until the mid-17th century. The Cathedral was the seat of the Bishop of Sodor and Man, with the crypt below serving as an ecclesiastical prison.
However, the Cathedral was allowed to decay and by 1824 the roof was gone and the building was beyond restoration. The Castle continued to perform a limited military function, with the last naval reserve battery located there in 1861.
But the passage of time had done its damage. When the reserve battery closed in 1870, the condition of the buildings within the Curtain Wall led to the Castle being abandoned, leaving what we see today – a beautiful, atmospheric ruin, steeped in history.
An extensive programme of masonry consolidation and conservation was undertaken by MNH in partnership with Bournemouth University under Professor John Ashurst during the 1990’s. The Historic Buildings Architect/Surveyor will be responsible for guiding the next phase of repairs.
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Manx National Heritage Historic Buildings Architect/Surveyor
Laxey Wheel
The Great Laxey Wheel is perhaps the Isle of Man’s single most iconic landmark. At 22 metres in diameter, this extraordinary example of Victorian engineering has brought tourists flocking to the idyllic village of Laxey over the last 150 years.
Christened Lady Isabella after the wife of the Island’s Governor at the time, she began her working life in 1854. Today, she is the largest working waterwheel in the world.
While it is easy to marvel at her beauty and that of the Glen Mooar Valley which is her home, the Lady is only the serene tip of the iceberg in a compelling story, which dates back 70 years before Isabella entered the imagination of engineer Robert Casement, the man who designed her.
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Manx National Heritage Historic Buildings Architect/Surveyor
It is the story of the Great Laxey Mine, of the families whose lives were irrevocably changed once the first zinc ore was unearthed in the early 1780s. It is a story of great vision and great passion in a time of opportunity. But it’s also a story of disaster, of death and disease, of the hardship and gruelling conditions faced by the men, women and children who worked the mine during its lifetime or braved the long hours on the Washing Floors.
In 1929, with its ore reserves expired, the Great Laxey Mine closed. The Lady Isabella, however, would endure, as would her story, and that of the mine and the close-knit community that built up around it.
In December 1937, Edwin Kneale, a Laxey builder, agreed a 15-year lease with Williamson’s for the Laxey Wheel. Kneale was 32 at the time, and risked his livelihood to save Lady Isabella from demolition. When several of Williamson’s properties – including the Wheel – were put up for auction in October 1946, Kneale pulled some strings and bought Lady Isabella before the sale.
She had been saved for the nation, and tourists continued to flock to see her. Kneale sold Lady Isabella to the Manx Government in 1965, and major repairs were undertaken over the next few winters until, on Sunday, 5th July 1970, the Laxey Wheel turned once more.
The next two decades saw the derelict mine buildings designated as ancient monuments, with the area of Glen Mooar up as far as the Compressor House purchased from the landowner. This gave impetus to plans to interpret the area around the Laxey Wheel, which included the restoration of the flat rod on the rod duct, and reconnecting the T-rocker with Lady Isabella.
In 1989, ownership of Lady Isabella and Glen Mooar was transferred to the Manx Museum and National Trust, which was subsequently restyled as Manx National Heritage.
The Laxey Wheel site is a complex one consisting of a valley brimming with industrial archaeology from the wheel itself to ruined engine houses, long hidden structures, water management features, archaeological artefacts, a public adit and below ground mine passages. The Historic Buildings Architect/Surveyor will be involved in developing the long- term conservation strategy and overseeing the ongoing maintenance and repair of the Wheel, rod-duct, T-Rocker and other historic structures in the valley.
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Manx National Heritage Historic Buildings Architect/Surveyor
Castle Rushen
By the 1200s, Castle Rushen was the seat of the Kingdom of Man and the Isles. Started by King Reginald I and built from limestone quarried from nearby Scarlett, its towering walls would have been visible from much of the south of the Island and when approaching from the sea.
Previously the Island’s Scandinavian rulers had maintained a strong presence in the west, which had been on the Viking superhighway sea route. By the 1200s, the influence of the English court was growing and the powerbase began to shift to the south of the Island.
The development of Castle Rushen continued over the next three centuries, and the settlement that would become Castletown grew up around it. The dawn of the 1400s saw the start of the long rule of the powerful Stanley family, who became Earls of Derby and Lords of Mann. They ruled from both Castle Rushen and Peel Castle, and built the round fort – later renamed Derby Fort – on St Michael’s Isle. By the 1700s the castle was being used as a prison, and a mint, with coinage struck from 1733.
Castletown’s political importance led to the building of the Old House of Keys in 1821, but the town’s influence was on the wane and it was soon eclipsed by the Island’s new capital, Douglas. The early 1900s saw Castle Rushen restored by Lieutenant Governor Lord Raglan following the opening of Victoria Road Prison in Douglas, though the Castle continued to be used as a court.
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Manx National Heritage Historic Buildings Architect/Surveyor
The Castle underwent extensive repair and re-presentation in the late 1980’s and is exceedingly well preserved and well understood. Recently works have been undertaken to repair roofs and wall walks and to improve accessibility and interpretation at ground level. The prioritised programme of repointing and wall walk/roof repairs continues.
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Manx National Heritage Historic Buildings Architect/Surveyor
The Nautical Museum
One of the most influential and wealthy Manx families of the late 1700s was the Quayles of Bridge House in Castletown, which dominated the harbour opposite the entrance to Castle Rushen.
The Quayles were one of probably a dozen families who rotated through the House of the Keys, which was self-elected at the time. John Quayle was Clerk of the Rolls – effectively head of the government in those days – as was his father before him. The family enjoyed the patronage of the Dukes of Atholl and John’s father-in-law was Sir George Moore of Patrick, the merchant, ‘smuggler’ and Speaker of the House of Keys, while his sister Margaret married John Quillin, the Island’s attorney general. With these kind of connections, it’s clear the family was ensconced in the highest levels of Manx life.
John’s eldest son was George, who became one of the most prominent Manxmen of his era. Born in 1757, he was most likely educated at the Old Grammar School in Castletown. After two years working in London at the office of his uncle, George Moore, he sailed for Turkey,
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Manx National Heritage Historic Buildings Architect/Surveyor landing in Constantinople before moving on to Smyrna, where it’s thought he was an agent for a tobacco company.
He returned to the Island in early 1779 and was appointed Captain of one of the three companies of the Manx Fencible corps (1779-1783). The company was established following the outbreak of war with France and Spain, and raised at his father’s expense. The corps used Castle Rushen as its headquarters.
While the Fencibles were reinstated twice (1793-1802 and 1803-1810), Quayle wasn’t part of them. Instead, he was involved in raising a troop of Constitutional Dragoons (1793-1796) and in 1799 he organised the Manx Gentlemen and Yeomanry, both of which he equipped at his own expense. His involvement with the Yeomanry ceased in 1802 after the Treaty of Amiens temporarily ended hostilities between Britain and France.
That same year, Quayle teamed up with his brother Mark Hildesley Quayle, John Taubman and James Kelly to create the Isle of Man’s first ever bank, the Isle of Man Bank Company (later George Quayle & Co), which was based at Bridge House, but which had ceased trading by 1818.
Politics was a lifelong interest for Quayle and he played a significant role in the House of Keys, being appointed to it in 1784, and serving for 51 years until his death in 1835. He had never married and had no children. However, it is for his love of boats and as an enthusiastic inventor that he is best remembered; there is a tale that Quayle hid all the lenses from his astronomical telescope around the boathouse, and that one day they will all be found.
In the mid-1780s Quayle began building boats. To house his creations, he built a small three- storey boathouse in the shadow of Bridge House. The project started in 1789 and finished two years later, and today forms Manx National Heritage’s Nautical Museum. While the idiosyncrasies of the boathouse itself are fascinating, it’s what was housed inside that caught the imagination when it was ‘re-discovered’ in the 1930s - a small yacht called Peggy, which had been forgotten about since Quayle’s death.
Extensive research has been carried out for the site and the Historic Buildings Architect/Surveyor will have the opportunity to be part of a major project to conserve and re-interpret the Nautical Museum site and ensure the long-term future of the Peggy.
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Manx National Heritage Historic Buildings Architect/Surveyor
Cregneash
Nestling on an upland plateau overlooking the Sound and the Calf of Man, the village of Cregneash was one of the last strongholds of the Manx language and the crofting way of life. The community developed from a gathering of sod cottages to dwellings built of stone and thatch and as early as the 1800s the uniqueness of Cregneash was considered a must-see attraction for visiting tourists.
But there is more to Cregneash’s story than crofting alone. Long before iconic Cregneash characters such as Ned Maddrell and poet Edward ‘Ned Beg Hom Ruy’ Faragher walked the country lanes, the Meayll peninsula was home to Neolithic people, and above the village lies a 6,000-year-old burial site, unique within the British Isles.
World War II also left its mark on the area, with a major radar station located on Meayll Hill and for a whole year the entire peninsula was cut off from the rest of the Island by barbed wire as part of Rushen internment camp.
The village’s life as a folk museum began in 1938, with the opening of Harry Kelly’s Cottage to visitors. In time, much of the rest of the village was acquired by Manx National Heritage and today Cregneash has become one of the Island’s most special and popular heritage attractions.
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Manx National Heritage Historic Buildings Architect/Surveyor
Cregneash will offer The Historic Buildings Architect/Surveyor a chance to work with the typical vernacular building style of the Isle of Man and a to work with the Sites and Monuments Team, to maintain, repair and replace thatch in the Manx tradition.
Links https://manxnationalheritage.im/ http://twitter.com/manxheritage http://www.facebook.com/manxnationalheritage https://www.instagram.com/manxnationalheritage/ http://www.flickr.com/groups/_mnh https://vimeo.com/manxheritage
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