In 1870-72, John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales described Rushen like this:
KIRK-CHRIST-RUSHEN, a parish in the SW of the Isle of Man; 4 miles W by N of Castletown. It contains the villages of Port-Erin and Port-St. Mary, each of which has a post office under Douglas, Isle of Man; and it includes the island of Calf of Man. Length, northnorth-eastward, 7½ miles; extreme breadth, 3¾ miles. ...
Pop. in 1861, 3, 300. Houses, 619. Spanish Head, 350 feet high, is in the S, opposite the Calf of Man; Mull Hills, 537 feet high, are 1½ mile further north; Brada Head, 390 feet high, is on the W coast, 1½ mile still further north; Brada Hill, 758 feet high, is on the same coast, 1¼ mile further NNE; the Carnanes Hills, 900 feet high, are on the W sea board, 2¼ miles further NNE; and Crunk-na-Iray-Lhaa, 1, 445 feet, is in the extreme N, immediately beyond the Carnanes. The surface, in other parts, is much diversified; and the SW half of the parish is mainly a peninsula, between Poolvash bay and the main Irish sea. A meadow, at the W end of the church, was the scene of the murder of Reginald, king of Man, in 1248; and a tumulus, called Fairy hill, in the immediate neighbourhood, is traditionally but erroneously regarded as his grave. A tall Runic monumental cross is in a farmyard, a short distance S of the church; two stone circles are in the SW, not far from Spanish Head; and two gigantic slabs, about 10 feet high, called the Giant's Quoiting-Stones, fabled to have been thrown by giants from the top of the Mull Hills, are on the coast near Port-St. Mary. At Port-Erin a very extensive harbour of refuge was being erected in 1866. Port-St. Mary is the principal seat of the herring trade, and has a large manufactory for fishing nets. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Sodor and Man. Value, £.180. * Patron, the Crown. The church has a bellturret. In connexion with the church are three wellattended schools under government teachers.
GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth, History of Rushen, in and the Isle of Man | Map and description, A Vision of Britain through Time.
URL: https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/26267
Date accessed: 06th November 2024
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