Claare Ny Gael - Manx Radio

We're coming towards the end of David Robertson's 'A Review of the Manks History', published in 1794, but his footnotes are getting longer, so he's still got plenty to tell us before we reach his closing remarks. In this week's episode from Dracula, Mina Harker has just been comforting Arthur Holmwood in his distress, and warns Quincey Morris that he, too, may need to find...

We've come to the final chapter of 'A Review of the Manks History', David Robertson's addendum to his 1794 publication in which he describes the Island as he saw it when he revisited it - having been based in Douglas as a revenue officer of the Crown - in the summer of 1791. Robertson's gives an overview and  draws some conclusions. As we're reading through the transla...

Despite the loyalty of the Stanley family to the Royalist cause, Charles II treated them rather poorly on the Restoration. However, they did come into the Lordship of Man again, and David Robertson's 'A Review of the Manks History' then takes us through to the advent of the Murrays, Dukes of Atholl, and the sale of the Island's regalities to the British Crown. Mina and Jonathan Har...

In his 1794 'A Review of the Manks History', David Robertson has given quick overviews of the various members of the Stanley family who were Kings, and later styled themselves Lords, of Man. However, he has a lot more to say about Yn Stanlagh Mooar, James Stanley, the Seventh Earl of Derby. In the latest episode from Bram Stoker's Dracula in translation into Manx, Mina Harker has said...

We fairly rattle through the members of the Stanley family who had been given the Kingship of Man, which became known as a Lordship to protect the neck of Thomas Stanley in the court of Henry VIII. David Robertson's 'A Review of the Manks History' has now come to Yn Stanlagh Mooar, James Stanley, the tenth Stanley king/lord of Man and Seventh Earl of Derby.  Professor Van Helsing...

David Robertson picked his way through the 1300s in his 'A Review of the Manks History', associating events from both early and late in a rather disjointed narrative. We've now reached the advent of the Stanley family in 1405. Arthur Holmwood has done the deed of driving a stake through Lucy Westenra's heart. Professor Van Helsing and Dr John Seward have a little more to do, and th...

Whatever texts David Robertson was using to compile his 'A Review of the Manks History' in 1794, he seems to have got his timelines in a muddle for the period he's writing about, racing through the 1300s. His references to people and incidents seem to concertina back and forth through the century. In our translation into the Manx Gaelic of Bram Stoker's 'Dracula', Professor...

David Robertson's 'A Review of the Manks History' was added to his description of a return visit he made to the Island where he had worked as a British revenue officer some years previously. His combined volumes were published in 1794, and he's reached the reign of Magnus, the last of the dynasty of Godred Crovan. Professor Van Helsing has brought the three men who each proposed to...

Is there something about the name, Reginald? Every time we hear of one in Manx history, he seems to have been something of a bad lot. We start and finish our dip into David Robertson's 'A Review of the Manks History' with two such flawed characters. Professor Van Helsing has brought Arthur Holmwood, Quincey Morris and Dr John Seward to the graveyard at Kingstead, and the empty tomb of...

The rule of the dynasty of Godred Crovan was interrupted as King of Man and the Isles by the arrival of the exiled but powerful King Magnus of Norway. On his death, as David Robertson's 'A Review of the Manks History' outlines it, the former line was invited back, in the form of Olave. Unfortunately, he had three troublesome nephews who took advantage of his absence to foment trouble....

In his 1794 publication, 'A Tour Through the Isle of Man', David Robertson has added 'A Review of the Manks History', and we've reached events detailed in the Chronicles of the Kings of Man and the Isles with the arrival of Godred Crovan. Professor Van Helsing has written a farewell note for Dr John Seward, just in case Count Dracula should come looking for Lucy Westenra whilst...

As it was written in the 1790s, David Robertson's 'Review of the Manks History' doesn't have the advantage of modern academic research with input from a wide range of disciplines, but still makes entertaining reading, and we can tease out some of the storylines from our own perspective. The coffin of Lucy Westenra was empty in the dead of night, but Lucy is again lying in it the ne...

David Robertson's walking tour of the Island actually was completed several chapters ago, but he had a further four chapters of observations. However, after that, although he finishes Chapter XVIII with END OF THE TOUR, the book continues with REVIEW OF THE MANKS HISTORY, which is also interesting as he views history as understood or surmised in the 1790s. During the night, Professor Van Helsi...

David Robertson made a walking tour of the Island on his return visit to it in 1791. His circuit began and ended in Douglas, but he added on three more chapters of his general observations, many of which are rather less than flattering, as we hear. After visiting a hospital to look at a child who had been lost on Hampstead Heath, Professor Van Helsing and Dr John Seward have another mission, this...

As a British revenue officer, David Robinson was in favour of the British Crown buying the sovereign rights of the Island from the Lord of Mann, the Duke of Atholl, in 1765 in order to suppress 'the trade' - or 'smuggling' as the British Government considered it. Professor Van Helsing is trying to persuade Dr John Seward to open his mind to strange possibilities outside of accepted...

As a British revenue officer, David Robertson writes approvingly of the way the British Crown bought the Lord of Mann's rights in 1765 in order to suppress 'the running trade' in a move that the Manx people referred to as 'y chialg vooar' - 'the big swindle'. Professor Van Helsing returns from Exeter and starts questioning Dr John Seward about his views on things that s...

David Robertson tells us about the herring fishery and the process of preparing both white herrings and red herrings. We hear of the trade and way of life associated with them in the 1790s.  Jonathan Harker has resumed his journal, and so we hear that Professor Van Helsing finds him in surprisingly good health. However, as they part Van Helsing learns of problems in store. Dr John Seward also...

Having arrived back in Douglas from a tour of the Island with two friends, David Robertson surveys the town from Douglas Head and reflects on the herring fishery as it was in 1791. Professor Van Helsing has visited Mina Harker in Exeter. Having found out all about poor Lucy Westenra, his attention turns to Mina's husband, Jonathan, and he, too, reads Jonathan's journal of his travails in C...

David Robertson surveys the scene from the summit of Snaefell and falls to philosophising. After heading straight down the valley to Laxey, he and his two friends then complete their tour of the Island by returning to Douglas via Onchan. In our Manx translation of Dracula, Professor Van Helsing explains to Mina Harker how it is that, although meeting her for the first time, he feels that he alread...

After concluding an overview of the Island's ecclesiastical history, David Robertson continues his 1791 tour of the Island, from Bishop's Court to Ramsey, then out to Maughold, before ascending Snaefell. In our Manx translation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, Professor Van Helsing has arranged to come to Exeter to see Mina Harker. So striking is their meeting that Mina decides to give a verb...

David Robertson gives a pen portrait of Bishop Thomas Wilson and talks of his successor, Mark Hildesley, as being in the same mould. He then deals with several other incumbents up to Claudius Crigan in 1791, before looking at a range of suggestions for the name of the see as Sodor and Man. There are disturbing developments on and around Hampstead Heath, not far from where Lucy Westenra was buried....

According to David Robertson's 1791 view of history, after the suppression of the Druids of the Ancient Britons in one Mona, Anglesey, they came to another Mona, the Isle of Man, where they continued their benevolent rule and ministry until the coming of Christianity. Following the burial of Lucy Westenra near Hampstead Heath, Professor Van Helsing tries to explain to Dr John Seward how it is...

Having explored Peel Castle, David Robertson and friends set out for Kirk Michael, and there we explore the background to one of the Scandinavian runic monuments they examined, as well as other ancient monuments. David Robertson seems to know a surprising lot about Druids! In our translation into the Manx Gaelic of Bram Stoker's 'Dracula', we hear of Jonathan Harker's startling sig...

David Robertson quotes from the work of George Waldron, describing a piece of history associated with Peel Castle in the 1440s. This has given rise to some fanciful additions to the history of Eleanor Cobham, the former wife of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, thanks in part to William Shakespeare and to A P Graves in 'Manx National Songs'. Arthur Holmwood has come for the funeral of his fian...

We've arrived in Peel in our tour of the Island in 1791 in the company of David Robertson, who gives a brief account of Peel and its bay and then draws on the work of Captain Francis Grose (a visitor to the Island in 1774) to describe Peel Castle. Arthur Holmwood has just had to attend to the funeral of his father before coming for the funeral of his fiance, Lucy Westenra. His comfort is in hi...