Cregneash Folk Museum

This isolated village overlooking the Calf of Man is the oldest settlement on the Isle of Man. Today the unusual thatched cottages, and the traditional crafts of the Manx people, have been preserved to form part of the Cregneash Folk Museum but a small community has existed on this site since the 17th century. For nearly 300 years the crofting families of Cregneash worked the land, fished the local waters, and learned essential skills such as weaving and carpentry to sustain their self-sufficient lifestyle.

Present day visitors are able to gain an understanding of what life was like in a typical 19th century crofting village, where each generation was responsible for passing on their knowledge and customs to the next. Here fields of flax, oats and barley are worked with horse-drawn equipment, a flock of native Loghtan sheep roam happily across land that their ancestors would have grazed more than a thousand years ago, and domestic foul have the run of the farmyard. Several of the original buildings have been carefully restored using traditional methods, and many of the old crafts are demonstrated regularly by local people in period costume. Some of the activities undertaken as part of the Cregneash Folk Museum programme include the dying of wool, hand-spinning and weaving, wood-turning, and black-smithing.

Of the buildings in the village that are open to the public, Harry Kelly's cottage is a perfect example of a traditional Manx dwelling. The early 18th century single-storey house is constructed from locally quarried stone and has a neatly thatched roof secured by what appears to be a giant hairnet. At Cregneash wheat straw has always been used for thatching, and it is not pegged in with hazel but simply held in place with twisted straw ropes. Finally, the entire thatch is covered with netting and anchored to the stones purposely built into the tops of the cottage walls. Inside, the floor area is divided into two rooms to form the kitchen (or family area), and the bedroom. There was always a large open hearth in the Manx home, and a substantial dresser for displaying the family's pottery and glassware. Much of what is in the house belonged to Harry Kelly and has remained there since his death in 1935.

With cottages, farm buildings and a church to explore, as well as a farm trail to walk, the visitor to Cregneash Folk Museum could be forgiven for harbouring romantic notions of a charmed life amidst this scenic seclusion. The reality was very different. Crofters were a tough breed, living simply off the land, making the most of their practical skills, and often enduring harsh conditions. It is this strong sense of pride and community spirit that has been immortalised at Cregneash, alongside age-old crafts that have long since disappeared in the modern world.