Visit Mann Tours

03/06/2025

Cruise day today - guests from Montana - loved the fact that the cruise coincided with TT!

02/06/2025

Fun in the sun - toured the south due to roads being shut/ guests from Texas

31/05/2025

Busy few days - TT is upon us - check out the new jumpers by Albion knitting- Stanley’s in Castletown with cruise passengers- playing the pipes with the band at Callow Point for the 85th anniversary of the Mona’s Queen commeration

25/05/2025

Cruise tour today with guests from Silver Wind which called into the Island at short notice due to weather conditions elsewhere. Well done team Isle of Man to facilitate this visit

25/05/2025

Another ancestral tour with the Looney family from Oregon - great day had by all.

17/05/2025

Great few days showing round relatives of the Corrin family. Thank you to the Anderson’s for thier fabulous hospitality for taking us up to Corrin’s Tower - and of course Fiona’s flapjack!

17/05/2025

Keeills - one of the Isle of Man's most fascinating & beautiful pieces of history.

Located all over the Island, these Early Christian chapels offer a fascinating place to reflect on the lives and beliefs of the Manx dating back over a millennium.
Today is the start of Praying the Keeills Week 2025, which gives us the opportunity to reflect on what they are and how to find out more...

We know of over 170 keeills in the Island, but visible features remain of only 35 today.
Often they are surrounded by a burial ground, or rullick, and often a holy well lies close by, for which tales of miraculous qualities of the water survive into the modern day.

They come in three different sorts of location:
1) Within, or on the edge of, good farmland (as is the case for most keeills).
2) Very remote locations, where they may have formed the focus of a small hermitage (such as Lag ny Keeilley).
3) Set within an earthwork, where they were most certainly the sites of early monasteries (such as Kirk Maughold).

Thankfully for us, there have been many archaeological surveys of keeills over the years, giving us a wealth of information, but still leaving so many questions, most notably of when they precisely date from, and how religion was practiced within them (note how small they are compared to modern churches).

We thoroughly recommend visiting some keeills (especially as they tend to come in stunningly beautiful locations) and finding out more.

KEEILLS TO VISIT:
Many are listed with locations and directions in 'A Guide to the Archaeological Sites of the Isle of Man.'
Easily accessible ones include Balladoole in Arbory (pictured), St Patrick's Chapel within Peel Castle, three keeills within Kirk Maughold churchyard, and Cabbal Pherick close to Spooyt Vane in Michael. A more committed hike, but very worth it is Lag ny Keeilley, out below Cronk ny Arree Laa.
Of course, many will be visited as a part of Praying the Keeills, so you can join a group and be led: https://prayingthekeeills.org/

MORE INFORMATION:
The best place to find out about keeills is, of course, the amazing blog, Keeills & Cake, where all available information was pulled together by Katie & Nicola when visiting every remaining keeill in the Island: https://manxkeeills.wordpress.com/
The book, 'A Guide to the Archaeological Sites of the Isle of Man' is also a must.
We have a couple of films available:
Lag ny Keeilley: https://culturevannin.im/watchlisten/videos/lag-ny-keeilley-577857/
The reconstructed keeill at the Cathedral: https://culturevannin.im/watchlisten/videos/a-tour-of-a-keeill-692033/

PRAYING THE KEEILLS:
Of course, keeills were created and used as places of faith, and it is brilliant that people still engage with them in this same way today. This is a key part of Praying the Keeills Week, which everyone, regardless of your faith or otherwise, is welcome to engage with: https://prayingthekeeills.org/

16/05/2025

15/05/2025

Visitors from Atlanta who had been to the Island in December and I said come back in May when the weather is better! They have been on Island for a week - and what a week to come! Thank you Regency Hotel for looking after my guests

15/05/2025

Three day tour done in fantastic weather

13/05/2025

The Fair Isle Shines with Beauty! Sunshine please check in for a few months!