Groudle Glen, One of the Island’S Best Known Tourist Attractions, Doesn’T Have Many Buildings – but Almost the Whole Glen Has Been Shaped by the Hand of Man

14 ISLE OF MAN EXAMINER www.iomtoday.co.im Tuesday, June 6, 2017

BUILDINGS AT RISK Where there’s a wheel there’s a way ... Groudle Glen, one of the Island’s best known tourist attractions, doesn’t have many buildings – but almost the whole glen has been shaped by the hand of man. Chris Callow, an undergraduate student of history & heritage at University College Isle of Man, describes the history of the glen and its buildings, and how both are at risk.

roudle glen to- day is a popular spot for walkers, who probably don’t stop to ponder how such a well-wood- Ged area came into being. It is down to one of the giants of the island’s Victorian tourist industry, Richard Maltby Broadbent. Born at Bibaloe Beg in On- chan in 1850, Broadbent be- came engaged in extensive property development in Douglas, notably constructing and operating the Pavilion on Harris Promenade, famously replaced by the Gaiety Theatre which has survived to this day, thanks to Government inter- vention in 1971. So successful was Broad- bent that in 1894 he commis- sioned Mackay Hugh Baillie Richard Maltby Broadbent (Manx Musuem) Scott to design his home Ivy- dene at Little Switzerland, Douglas. Much information about the early family came to light recently when the cur- rent owner of Ivydene discov- ered in the loft and restored to RMB’s great-grandsons the Broadbent family bible. Broadbent worked closely with Frederick Saunderson, a civil engineer responsible for early property development in Ramsey, who was also closely associated with Baillie Scott. Saunderson was a prime mov- er in ambitious plans to devel- Derelict waterwheel building (author) Inclined railway on Douglas Head (Manx Museum) op the Howstrake Estate to the North of Douglas for housing constructed and licenced on day Village was constructed in In keeping with the spirit and carried 10,000 passen- the side of the tramway which with a new roadway and pio- July 4, 1893, the Glen opened the 1970s. of the times Broadbent con- gers in its first two months of by then had extended from neer electric tramway being on August 5 and the first What most people now rec- structed a small zoo in a cove operation. In the early years, Groudle to Laxey and eventu- constructed from Derby Cas- trams ran to the Groudle ter- ognise as Groudle Mill is a rus- to the North of Port Groudle; the Glen itself was attracting ally Ramsey, with a separate tle to Groudle. minus on September 7 in the tic style wheelhouse complete here an inlet was dammed to some 100,000 visitors per sea- line from Laxey to the summit At the same time as Saun- same year. with water-wheel, construct- provide a home for sealions son and in 1905 a second loco- of Snaefell. His later life saw derson was progressing his The Groudle River pow- ed by Broadbent in a narrow imported from California. motive Polar Bear was added tragedy with the loss of three plans for the Howstrake Es- ered a considerable number section of the Groudle Gorge Unfortunately, of the eleven to cope with demand. of his four sons in the Great tate, Broadbent took a lease of of mills in its journey from just below the hotel building. purchased only six survived to Given that he played such War. His prodigious involve- the Groudle Valley, then large- the heights of Onchan Parish complete the journey. There a major part in creating the ment in Manx tourism had not ly unimproved marshy scrub- to the sea. The lowest of these EYE FOR STYLE was also a bird house, brown Glen, Broadbent features little ended, however; he had been land, and set about developing was Groudle mill, just above Broadbent had great flair bear cubs and two polar bears. in accounts after its opening. responsible for the construc- it as a tourist attraction, plant- the shore where there is now and an eye for style; the build- Encouraged by the num- This may well be connected tion of Douglas Head Incline ing thousands of trees and cre- a public carpark; the earliest ing fits perfectly the sylvan ber of visitors, Broadbent con- with the collapse of Dumbell’s Railway in 1900 and operated ating rustic walks. record of a mill on this site was setting, but also served a pur- ceived the idea of a two-foot Bank in which it is believed he it at least until sale to a limited He allowed Saunderson to in the manorial roll of 1511-15. pose, as it housed a pump to gauge steam railway running lost heavily, as did many of the company in 1922. extend his new road and tram- The mill-building of 1854 fell send water up from the river to from the mid-point of the glen figures involved in both Glen World War One saw the way down from Groudle Old out of use later in the century the newly constructed hotel. above the gorge of the tribu- and tramway, the Douglas Bay Glen closed between 1915 and Road to the site of his intend- but enjoyed a new lease of life The water-wheel is reputed to tary stream called Lhen Coan Estate & Groudle Glen Limit- 1918, it is not clear what hap- ed new Hotel high above the as a pumping station for Doug- have been taken from the Bow- to the zoo. This was constructed and Isle of Man Tramways pened to the polar bears but Groudle Stream. Although the las Waterworks from 1885, and ring Mill further up the Grou- ed in two years and opened & Electric Power Co Limited the sealions survived. In the plans have not survived it is ac- it is believed was used in the dle River; there is a dubious in May 1896; the locomotive both going into liquidation. inter-war years an experiment cepted this building was also 20th century as a commercial apocryphal tale that the wheel Sealion was built by Bagnalls Broadbent built for himself a was made with battery-pow- designed in his hallmark style laundry before being demol- was manhandled intact down of Stafford. The Groudle line lesser but still stylish house, ered locomotives but these by Baillie Scott; it was rapidly ished when the Groudle Holi- the riverbed to its new home. was an immediate success Eskadale, which still stands at soon wore out so the steam Tuesday, June 6, 2017 www.iomtoday.co.im ISLE OF MAN EXAMINER 15 BUILDINGS AT RISK

Visitors watching Broadbent’s sea-lions at Groudle (Manx Museum) Proudly cared-for station buildings (Groudle Glen Railways)

Groudle Glen waterwheel and hotel above (Manx Museum) Original Groudle Mill, painted by John Millar Nicholson in 1875 (Manx Museum)

engines were overhauled and 1986. In 1987 the refurbished river banks requiring reme- It is not only the state of the ly from fallen trees in the gales as we have been lucky enough brought back into service. Sealion returned to the Island, dial major works to be carried wheelhouse that is cause for of recent years. It appears that to. Post World War II, falling in- and in 1992 the line reopened out by the Forestry Amenity & concern, but the condition of the policy of the Department In response to public con- come and ageing equipment to the original Sealion Rocks Lands Division of the Depart- the Glen itself. is to leave these trees where cern, Garff MHK Daphne lead to closure of the railway in terminus, where refresh- ment of Environment, Food & The footpath in the lower they fall, simply maintaining Caine questioned Minister 1967. The majority of the Glen ment rooms have since been Agriculture. glen from the confluence of the paths and diverting them Boot concerning the glen at was sold to Onchan Village opened. The volunteer-run the Groudle River with Lhen where necessary. the Tynwald sitting on 16th Commissioners, the railways railway now runs each Sun- DILAPIDATED Coan is in private ownership, Recently large amounts of May. buildings were demolished, day and some evenings in the Regrettably the wheel- and would benefit from repair branches have been depos- The Minister placed re- track lifted and both locomo- summer-months, attracting house has not received the to the riverbank. ited in the river bed; this is sponsibility for the main- tives left the island. In 1974 many visitors to the Glen. same level of care and it has The upper glen is be- both unsightly and likely to tenance of the wheelhouse the lower section of the Glen The wheelhouse is possibly been allowed to fall into a di- lieved to be rented by the add to the damage that may be squarely at the door of the from Lhen Coan to the shore one of the most photographed lapidated state, to the extent Department from the Com- caused by heavy rainfall if not Commissioners; pressed was sold by the Commission- buildings on the island, and that it has been deemed neces- missioners. Here an extreme- removed before the autumn. by Mrs Caine and other col- ers to a private developer who well-known to thousands of sary to erect unsightly fencing ly attractive and popular There also appears to have leagues as to concerns over constructed the existing holi- visitors and residents. It has preventing access from the ad- footpath runs up to the White- been no attempt to replace fallen trees and the general day village. long since ceased to carry out jacent path. It is unfortunate bridge on the main Douglas to fallen trees with saplings. As condition of the glen, Mr Boot In 1982 the Isle of Man any work, although in the past that this path is the principal Laxey Road, where the Rotary the glen was largely planted at undertook to visit the glen in Steam Railway Supporters the wheel was used to generate access to the Lhen Coan ter- Club of Onchan have created one time many trees will end person. Association began planning power for lighting in the Glen. minus of the Groudle Glen a footway under the bridge al- their natural life at the same It will be interesting to to restore the railway. As with all Manx streams, Railway; the sad state of the lowing pedestrian access into time so it is important to car- hear both the result of the Volunteers began the the Groudle River is prone to wheelhouse is in marked con- Molly Quirk’s Glen. The sec- ry out replanting where possi- Commissioners’ debate over massive task of reinstating spate in times of heavy rain- trast with the superbly main- tion of the glen immediately ble so our grandchildren and the future of the wheelhouse the trackbed, and the first fall and in recent years flood- tained and presented railway upstream from the tramway their children can continue to and the Minister’s inspection section of track reopened in ing has wreaked havoc to the station buildings. viaduct has suffered very bad- enjoy the glen in the same way of the glen.