Port Erin & Port St Mary
PORT ERIN and PORT ST. MARY are the Island's two most southern towns.
Port
Erin, with its landlocked harbour - Bradda Head to the North and
the Mull Peninsula to the South - was originally a fishing village and
now boasts a population of approximately 3,300 and 1,400 dwellings. The
name Port Erin is derived from the Manx Purt Iron or "Irish Port" as
this was the nearest Manx port to Ireland. The original fishing village,
some 150 years old - where boats operated from the beach - is at the
foot of the cliff facing the sea, and now blend with the largely Victorian
promenade so popular with tourists. Locally caught fish and shell fish
can still be purchased locally.
Tourism is important to the life of Port Erin with much investment in most of the hotels offering excellent standards of comfort and catering. Families - both visitor and resident alike - find the beach irresistible. Long clean sands are the perfect place for sand castles, a picnic, strolling, or just to paddle. For those who enjoy a walk Bradda Head and Milner Tower beckons.
Access
is via the picturesque Bradda Glen. Close by is Rowany Golf Club, an excellent
18-hole course. In addition there are facilities for tennis, bowls, scuba
diving and plenty of off road trails for the mountain bikers.
Erin Arts Centre is to be found in Victoria Square, off the Promenade, and is the location for the annual Mananan Arts Festival - three weeks of concerts, recitals, plays,and exhibitions. The Arts Festival is a most important event in the Manx cultural calendar, internationally acclaimed and supported. Artists and visitors descend on Port Erin for most of July each year and then start looking forward to the next year's programme.
There
is very little distance between Port Erin and Port St. Mary - at least
as the crow flies - but there are a variety of ways other than the most
direct. One of which is via the Mull peninsula and Cregneash - now a living
folk museum run by Manx National Heritage - and the other by sea. The latter
should be undertaken on a calm day, in a licensed boat, and could include
a visit to the Calf of Man. The sights and scenery on this trip are breathtaking
and totally unforgettable.
Port St. Mary is a much older town with roots in the fishing industry until quite recent times. The name comes from the Manx Purt le Moirrey taken from the Keeill of St. Mary which used to stand on the site of the present Town Hall, which overlooks Chapel Bay (Keeills were primitive forms of churches built between the 8th and 12th centuries, tiny by modern standards, built of earth, stone and sods). The harbour has to be one of the most picturesque anywhere and is a great favourite with visiting yachtsmen, who are sure of a warm welcome at the Isle of Man Yacht Club.
Visitors
will enjoy a quiet walk around the narrow streets and cottages that surround
the harbour, many of which had thatches roofs, now tiles with Manx slate,
plus browsing in the shops, many of which offer speciality goods. The town
offers a 9-hole golf course over hilly terrain and has a good selection
of restaurants and cafés.
Generations of visitors have enjoyed Chapel Bay beach for bathing and family days out. Perwick Bay offers a peaceful environment and those who enjoy a country walk will appreciate the cliff paths from Fistard to the Chasms, Spanish Head and on to Calf Sound - so spectacular when the fast tidal race is in opposition to the wind.
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