Гора Мюррея на острове Мэн: История и достопримечательности

Hill on the Isle of Man

Mount Murray is a hill above sea level on the Isle of Man located at the northern end of Santon, near the boundaries with Marown and Braddan parishes. It is named after Lord Henry Murray, 4th Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man. Often referred to simply as The Mount and formerly as Cronk Glass (green hill), Mount Murray is home to the Chibbanagh Plantation and nine of the eighteen holes of the Mount Murray Golf Club.

The hill was originally known as Ais Hólt, meaning Holt's Hill, and giving rise to derivations of the name: Ash hole (1703), Ashold (1734) and Ashole (1739). Several families of the latter name lived in the Castletown area in the 16th century. It was a Norse surname and is still found in Kildare and Wicklow, Ireland.

In the early part of the 18th Century the hill and surrounding area was acquired by a Dublin merchant, Richard McGwire, who applied to enclose an area of common land. Situated approximately 4 mile (6 km) from Douglas, it was the home of the Murray family when the Rt Honourable Lord Henry Murray, the fourth son of the John Murray, 3rd Duke of Atholl was the Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man. Leo Young is a well known resident of the Mount Murray estate and is locally known for his conservatism. A stone which was inserted into the walls of the mansion recorded that: "This estate, by ye Hon. Worthy Governor Murray, was called Moor Hall." The Alex Inn finally closed during the late 1960s or early 1970s following which most of the buildings were demolished.

Close by are The Broogh Fort and also The Braaid. The Graveyard, the fifth fairway of the Mount Murray golf course, is on the site of a prehistoric burial ground. The burial ground became the site of a keeill built sometime after the 9th century, and the area later became known as Speke Farm. The keeill and some of the surrounding burials were excavated in 2006 by archaeological television programme Time Team. The first mention of the keeill at Speke, is on a Mount Murray Estate map (1800) which shows a small rectangular east–west aligned building in an enclosure marked as ‘old chapel’.