Forthcoming Event - Friday 25th November 2022:

MANX UNWORTHIES

A Power Point presentation by Sarah Christian

There were plenty of Victorians on the Island who made the grade in life to be referred to as MANX WORTHIES

 but Sarah will tell of those who deserve the title ‘Manx Unworthies’!

St Ninian’s School lecture theatre, 8pm .

Admission Members Free, Non-Members £2 contribution to room hire..
Please use the Somerset Road Entrance (faces the rear car park).

10th November 2022

NEWSLETTER Edition 118 of the Isle of Man Victorian Society has just been published and was distributed to members over the past week.

The contents of the 48 page bumper edition newsletter are as always unique, wide ranging and informative:

• Baillie Scott plans discovered;
• A new lifeboat house and police station for Castletown;
• Horse trams built in the Isle of Man;
• New books on Manx subjects;
• Hall Caine’s actions when the King dies;
• Church design based on ruin;
• Miniature House for an Art Lover in Castletown;
• Putting our money where our mouth is;
• Baillie Scott returns to the Manx Museum;
• Visit to the Queens Pier;
• Walk around Little Switzerland;
• Red and Yellow brick buildings of 1880s and 90s;
• A walk around Port St Mary;
• A famous architect’s views on the horse trams.
   

Saturday 29th October 2022

“LIFE UNDERWATER - THE LOST FARMS & RAILWAY OF WEST BALDWIN RESERVIOR”

The IOM Victorian Society Joint lecture with MNH takes place on Saturday 29th Oct at 2:30pm. when Bob Stimpson will give a most enlightening talk, taking a look at the lives and activities of the residents of Ulican and Ballaleney - the two smallholdings now below West Baldwin reservoir.  

The illustrated talk will also provide information on the navvies living in the Baldwin Valley, the route and few remaining fragments of the now lost railway which ran from a quarry at Hillberry to West Baldwin to bring materials to build the reservoir.

Everyone including non-members are invited to attend.

The talk is FREE, but you are advised to turn up early for a seat!

Doors at the Manx Museum lecture theatre open at 2pm for 2.30pm.

17th September 2022

AS A MARK OF RESPECT FOR

 HER LATE MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH THE SECOND,

THE CAMERA OBSCURA WILL NOT BE OPEN

 ON BANK HOLIDAY MONDAY 19th SEPTEMBER 2022

July 2022

Edition No 117 of the Isle of Man Victorian Society Newsletter was published and posted out to members 

It is another 48 page bumper edition, made freely available to fully paid up  members.

• •        The Douglas hospital that was physically moved;
  •        Manx entries in a Liverpool Exhibition;
  •        The curse of German Bands;
  •        Jarius is resurrected;
  •        The Victorian bricklayer from Barrow- in- Furness;
  •        The two-storey shopfront;
  •        The Manx Cad of Ballamoar;
  •        Has T E Brown been forgotten ?;
  •        Discovery under the road at Peel;
  •        The life of the fairy-tale lady in Peel;
  •        A Victorian pleasure ground near the sea;
  •        Post- Reformation Catholic Churches;
  •        Manxland’s King of Music.
   

19th June 2022

LATEST NEWS - THE CAMERA OBSCURA IS OPEN FROM MAY TO SEPTEMBER

WEATHER PERMITTING - IT WILL BE CLOSED IF WET OR VERY DULL, OPEN IF DRY AND SUNNY!

Saturdays 1pm to  4pm
Sundays11am to 4pm
Bank Holidays 1pm to 4pm IF THE FLAG IS FLYING WE ARE OPEN!
 

The Great Union Camera Obscura on Douglas Head was built in 1892 and is unique amongst the very few that are left in the British Isles as it has eleven lenses and produces eleven images of its picturesque surroundings. 
Since Victorian times it has been of great interest and still works by just a simple arrangement of mirrors and a darkened room. A spectacle not to be missed by visitors and residents alike!

• Join us up Douglas Head each weekend. Entry for Adults £2; Seniors/Students £1;  children FREE.
  Please note we do not have card facilities - CASH only  please, as in Victorian/Edwardian times!
• 
  Note that if it is raining, the facility will not be open. See the Facebook Link Above

4th April 2022

Edition No 116 of the Isle of Man Victorian Society Newsletter  has been published and posted out to members over the weekend. It is another 48 page bumper edition made freely available to fully paid up  members.

The contents include :

• Souvenir from the second Camera Obscura comes to light.
• Victorian Castletown entrepreneur buys up the competition.
• Another Vic Soc member awarded the RBV.
• What Hall Caine thought about Queen Alexandra.
• New books on Manx subjects.
• Discoveries made during demolition of old buildings.
• Change at the top - a new Chairman of the society.
• More redbrick buildings from the 1880’s.
• Manx electric tram wins prestigious award.
• Blue plaque to be unveiled in Castletown to one of her sons.
• Douglas has the first open air swimming baths in Great Britain.
• The big name shops that came to the IOM in Victorian times and are still here.
• The mountain railway built in just five months despite the snow fall.

2nd April 2022

The IOM Victorian Society's April meeting is at 8pm on Friday 22nd and is entitled 'All for the Cause : the life and work of Sophia Morrison'. This is an illustrated talk by James Franklin on the life of the Peel girl who introduced us all to the Manx Fairy Tales.

Venue is the Lecture Theatre at St. Ninians High School. Pedestrian and vehicular access via car park from Somerset Road (free parking available on site); followed by light refreshments. Members free, non-members £2 towards venue hire.
 

10th March 2022

The IOM Victorian Society's next meeting is on   Friday 25th  March  at  8pm, where the well-illustrated talk by Peter Kelly will be entitled 'Here Come the Romans'.

It will cover the history of all the Post-Reformation Catholic churches on the Isle of Man.
 

The meeting takes place in the Barbara Cottier lecture theatre at St. Ninian's High School and non-members are most welcome where a charge of £2 will be made towards room hire costs.
 

Please use the Somerset Road entrance for vehicular and pedestrian access to the school. Light refreshments will be served following the talk.
 

2nd January 2022

A new page on the operation of the Camera Obscura has been added to promote the facility and to encourage volunteers to help operate it. We have also added a page on how it works and the Facebook site link.

26th November 2021

This evening’s meeting at the Barbara Cottier Lecture Theatre, St Ninian’s High School is going ahead starting at 8:00pm, despite the inclement weather. This is the last Victorian Society meeting for 2021. The talk is titled “Demolition Discoveries - Victorian Revelations” - buildings lost to the bulldozer in recent years with a link to Biddy Baxter!

10th October 2021

NEWSLETTER Edition 115 of the Isle of Man Victorian Society has just been published and was distributed to members over the past week from 6th October.

The contents of the 48 page bumper edition newsletter are as ever wide ranging and informative:

• Where was there another Camera Obscura overlooking Douglas Bay ?
• A Douglas dad satisfied with our advice;.
• A man obsessed with making concrete blocks;
• A guided tour of lower Port St Mary;
• Vic Soc members on the Laxey Trail;.
• A paddle steamer converted into a sailing ship;.
• The demise of the red telephone box;.
• When did the big name stores come to Douglas ?.
• Two other ex Knockaloe huts revealed;
• How members faired on an I-Spy hunt of Peel;.
• What does the letter I stand for in Capone’s ?.
• Why were all the Victorian faces removed ?
• What were the first two red brick buildings in the Island ?