Welcome to the features pages

If you would like to write a detailed feature on the Parish Walk, any subject, please email murray@manxathletics.com

John Wright's history of the Parish Walk to 1960

John Wright is a distinguished Manx scholar and has recently obtained a MA in Manx Studies. As an athlete he competed regularly in long distance runs and walks from the 1970s onwards. As well as walking the whole of the Parish Walk in 1986 he is the only Manxman to have walked and run the TT Course.

Of all the events in the Manx athletic calendar. The Parish Walk is the one which has the longest history. And there is a collection of fascinating stories about the contests and contestants……

The idea of walking the seventeen parishes in under twenty-four hours goes back into folklore. In fact a place name acts as a monument to the first time “Ughtagh brish my chree” or “Break my heart hill” in the parish of German is mentioned in both Kneen’s “Placenames of the Isle of Man” and Moore’s “Folklore of the Isle of Man”.

Tradition states that a man named Alswith, a son of Hiallus nan ord, dark smith of Drontheim, undertook to walk round all the churches of the Isle of Man on one day. Alswith started off early one day, a fine summer morning, and he had almost completed his task when evening overtook him as he was approaching St John’s. While going up the Starvey road over the Driney (Thorny Bank), he fell down exhausted. If he had reached Kirk Michael a few miles away, he would have accomplished his task. The hill was afterwards known as “Ughtagh brish my chree”.

During the nineteenth century long solo walks were not unusual, which is not surprising as it was many people’s sole means of transport. It was for this reason that only exceptionally long walks commanded any sort of attention. One walk considered of note by the “Manx Sun”, probably on account of the age of the walker, was that in 1848 by Harry Kermode, who walked from Patrick to Ramsey and back again, a distance of 48 miles. He was 84 years old.

However, the first attempt of modern times to walk the parishes was to occur four years later in 1852. An item in the “Manx Sun” entitled “A Summer Day’s Journey” recorded the exploits of John Cannell, Coroner for Middle, of St, Barnabas Square, Douglas. On 23^rd July John Cannell set off from Douglas going northwards and covered an estimated 90 miles in 15 hours on horseback. On the 7^th September the same year he set out early in the morning on foot and going South first he reached Laxey by 11 p.m. His exact time was not recorded and so cannot be claimed as the first sub-24 hour Parish Walk.

However, a year later, on 17^th September 1853, he started from Douglas half-an hour before midnight and proceeding northward visited the 17 parishes and four towns of the Island with 24 hours. “The extraordinary distance walked by Mr Cannell is about 86 miles”, claimed the “Sun”, but this was an exaggeration as he actually covered about 77 miles.

Twenty-five years passed before the next recorded attempt at the distance. This time the walker was Colonel William James Anderson, M.H.K, later Receiver General and appropriately Chairman of the Highway Board. Over dinner one evening at Ballasosnahan, Patrick, the subject of Cannell’s walk came up and after thinking for a moment, Anderson announced his intention of emulating the feat. It was 1878 and Anderson was 48 years of Age.

He set off from Patrick the following day and in under 24 hours returned to his starting pint, having visited the 17 parishes. His exact time was not recorded on this occasion. Twelve years later he repeated the achievement in 1890 aged 60, again in a clockwise direction and covered 73 miles 7 furlongs back to his starting point in 19 hours 39 minutes.

His progress was recorded on this occasion. At his first stop at Ramsey was walking at more than 4 m.p.h. covering 29 miles in a fraction over 7 hours. He stopped twice more before reaching Rushen and the last 10 miles over the tops showed him down, but he still finished with an actual walking time of 18 hours 34 minutes. The reason he walked a shorter distance than Cannell seems to have been because he by-passed the centre of Douglas.

These then were the only officially authenticated sub-twenty-four hour Parish Walks. However, Stuart Slack in an article on the 19^th century walkers tells the tale of W. T. Teare of Ramsey , who in 1887, after the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations held in Ramsey elected to walk to Douglas. He set off through Laxey arriving at Douglas at 3 a.m. He decided to carry on to Castletown by time he “hungered for breakfast, but no place was open”, so he carried on towards Port St Mary and on the way he met a woman who was filling a kettle and invited him to breakfast. The amount he ate convinced her of his story about the walk, and after his refreshment he carried on to Port St Mary, Port Erin and Peel, where he had dinner. Equipped with sandwiches he went on to Ballaugh, decided to visit a farm at Andreas and also called at Knock-y-Dhooney. He partook of some refreshment there and returned home to Ramsey, arriving at 11.30 p.m.

He was out working in his garden the following day and only mentioned his walk in casual conversation sometime afterwards. An interesting sequel to this story is that one of Mr Teare’s descendants wrote to a local paper in May 1979, from Runcorn, Lancashire, suggesting that the Parish Walk be revived!

During the nineteenth century, contrary to current popular belief, there were race walking events in the Isle of Man. In fact at the first all-Island sports held at the Nunnery in August 1868, a mile walking race was held, the winner being James Kate of Douglas. The leading Manx race walker of the late 70’s was Titus Corkill of Peel with Louis Callow of Douglas always ready to give him a hard race. Corkill reigned supreme over the one and two-mile distances with a best scratch time of 17 minutes 42.5 seconds. After 1879 the walking races were dropped in favour of bicycle races. During the next 20 years the only walking races were held at regattas.

An interesting contest took place in 1912, and it shows that race walking was still regarded as something of a joke. Two “unathletic gentlemen”, William Robertson and J.T. Campbell, engaged in a walking contest over a five-mile course, three times round a route starting from the Quarter Bridge Hotel, going to Saddle Road, Braddan Bridge. The aforementioned hostelry did a roaring trade    “and some irresponsible fellows laughed uproariously”. Campbell finished a few yards ahead of Robertson. A return match over two miles resulted in another win for Campbell. The two contestants “subjected themselves to light exercises in very immodest attire and trained themselves to withstand cold baths; afterwards they were massaged with metal polish.”

In 1913, for the first time, the “I.O.M. Times” together with the Manx Sporting Club, promoted not only the Peel to Douglas “Marathon” running race, but also the first Parish Walk, other than the previous solo efforts. The race attracted twelve starters of whom only one was under thirty. On a muggy evening on 31^st May, 1913, a small crowd gathered at 10 p.m. to watch the beginning of the 80-mile walking race. Unlike today’s walkers the participants simply walked in their ordinary clothes. From the start Harry Bridson of Cronkbourne Village, Braddan, and two other walkers named Gill and Hawley led the way. Through Braddan, Santon, Arbory and Rushen the three leaders had to wait thirty-three minutes for the first point marshal to turn up.

At Peel Bridson and the others stopped for 23 minutes for refreshment. However, by the time the leasers reached Jurby, Bridson had another companion – E. Garrett of Douglas Street, Peel – while Gill and Hawley had dropped back and were shortly to both retire. At Andreas Bridson held a 12 minute lead and despite a nine minute refreshment stop at Ramsey, he pulled away to win by an hour and nine minutes, arriving at 4.56 pm on 1^st June.

He had walked 78 miles with a gross time of 18 hours 56 minutes, from which the 33 minutes at Rushen, and 32 minutes refreshment time make an actual time of 17 hours 51 minutes. Probably statistically his time should include his refreshment time, leaving his corrected time of 18 hours 24 minutes. It was 6.05 pm. before Garrett arrived and nearly two hours later before Robert Quayle of Comely Hall, Lezayre, crossed the line at 7.59 p.m. These were the only three finishers inside the 24-hour limit, although two other walkers arrived at 1.35 a.m. on 2^nd June, having lost their way on Dalby Mountain. They were J.A. Sutcliffe of Laxey and F. Glyn of Douglas.

Just to show the quick way round, John Young, a Douglas, chemist covered the same distance in 9 hours 15 minutes on horseback.

The course and speed were measured by a car following Bridson giving him an average speed of 4.4 m.p.h. The only finisher unable to receive his prize was the youngster of the party, Quayle, who was still suffering the after effects of his walk.

The intervention of the First World War prevented any repetition of the 1913 event until 1923, when the Times” decided to repeat the race following the recent revival of the Peel to Douglas road run. However, there were only two entrants, so the event became a challenge match between Harry Bridson , now in his 65^th year, and his namesake Gerald Bridson, M.H.K. The name may have been the same, but there the similarity ends. Harry, was a “typical working man” while Gerald, Labour member for Middle, son of wealthy parents with whom he lived, was elected to the Keys in 1919, Ironically he was medically unfit for war service, his athletic career beginning in the 1921 Peel to Douglas race when he finished in eighth place behind the great “Abba” Taylor in 1 hour 28 minutes 42 seconds. His appearance in the race prompted the Clerk of the Works that no charge would be made for any damage to the Peel to Douglas road from the weighty gentleman!

There were differences too, in their racing kit. Harry was dressed in a dark tweed suit, while the flamboyant Gerald with his bushy ginger beard flowing in the breeze was suitably rigged out in a large pair of white shorts and a waistcoat, and equipped with “1 lb. of tobacco and plenty of matches” for his journey. The 55-year-old Harry and the 31-year-old Gerald came to the starting line at the Palace at 1 a.m. on 17^th May on a bitterly cold night.

At the first stop at Braddan Harry opened up a 50-second gap; at Marown this had increased to 2 minutes 35 seconds, but shortly afterwards tragedy struck when he took the road to St. Mark’s instead of the Braaid Road and arrived at Santon some 19 minutes behind Gerald. From then on Harry fell further and further behind and together with his son, who was acting as his second, riding behind him on a motor-bike. He was forced to shelter in a ditch during a violent hail storm on the way to Rushen. Finally, having reached Ramsey 90 minutes behind Gerald, the “champion” retired at Ballure Bridge. He returned to Douglas by electric car, slept all the way from Ramsey and had to be awakened on his arrival.

Meanwhile Gerald went on to finish at the Palace 20 hours 23 minutes after he had begun, amid the cheers and applause of many supporters including his fellow Labour Party colleagues Samuel Norris and Alfred Teare.

The two men met again in October of the same year in the Ramsey to Douglas walk with a similar result, Gerald finishing and Harry retiring at Laxey. The race was won by Robert Wilkinson, the 1910 Peel-to-Douglas winner. Wilkinson was a walker of note who had won the 1906 50-mile walking championship in England, and a number of races on the Island. His time was 2 hours 55 minutes, with Gerald back in 13^th place in 3 hours 28 minutes.

The following year Gerald was called to defend his “title” in another challenge match, this time against a fifteen-year-old schoolboy named Marshall Braide. This was part of a “Day of Sport” involving the Parish Walk, the Marathon and the Pushbike T.T.  Marshall Braide son of George Braide, a Castletown publican, was considered too young by many locals, but a close medical examination “revealed no physical defect in the youngster”.

At 1 a.m. on 4^th June, 1924, “that fine specimen of fully developed virile manhood” (Bridson) and a “mere  stripling” (Braide) met. Bridson was dressed in his famous white shorts and shirt complete with his walking stick and pipe and his tweed sports jacket draped over his arm. Braide was dressed in “blue togs”. They wished each other good luck and set off together to Braddan in 28.5 minutes.

At Marown and Santon they remained together, but Braide gradually pulled away and had a half minute lead at Arbory. At Rushen, he was three minutes up, and at Peel he was 20 minutes ahead. Both competitors stopped for breakfast here, with Bridson going to Christopher Shimmin’s house (Shimmin was M.H.K. for Peel). Gradually Bridson began to pull back ground, which he promptly lost when he stopped to bathe his feet at Ballaugh. At Andreas and Bride, Braide held his lead whistling “Felix kept in walking” to keep his spirits up.

At Lezayre Braide stopped for refreshment at the Vicarage and Bridson, refusing to stop for sustenance, went into the lead from Lezayre of about a minute. There is a picture of this stage of the race with Bridson striding along with his stick, pipe, blazing away, followed closely by Braide, a slim figure in sharp contrast to the rotund rival. But by the time they reached Maughold Braide had regained the lead, albeit a slight one, and Bridson, paused for a “long while” and “looked very tired” before carrying on.

Shortly afterwards the race came to a sudden end. At the Dhoon Slate Quarry Braide, who had been complaining of a stitch, was retired by his father, whilst 10 yards ahead of Bridson. So sadly what had turned into an intriguing duel was now over. Braide was conveyed to Douglas by a car belonging to Mr Bert Ashton the observer, while Bridson continued in leisurely fashion to Lonan and then to Onchan and then down to the Palace ballroom. He arrived at the stroke of 9 o’clock, thus breaking his previous year’s time by 23 minutes. And so ended the third of the Parish Walks, the last to be held for 36 years.

Gerald Bridson, surely one of the great characters in the history of Manx athletics, lost his seat in the Keys that year, but as in everything else he was a determined person. He contested a total of nine elections, six for Middle, two for Garff and one for Rushen. He also acted as starter for the first of the revived Parish Walks in 1960. He and his wife both acted as J.P.’s until shortly before his death in 1967.

The first of the revived Parish Walks in 1960 was won by Stanley Cleator of Onchan, who beat a youngster, 16-year-old Jim Harvey of Abbeylands, with Harvey’s brother Henry in third place. Cleator’s winning time was 19 hours 50 minutes 30 seconds. These Parish walkers were a unique breed. They appear to have little in common, except perhaps the courage and tenacity to keep going….

Please respect copyright and do not reproduce the above, other than for your own private use, without the author's permission.