Port St Mary

Port St Mary (Manx: Purt le Moirrey or Purt-noo-Moirrey) is a village near the southwest tip of the Isle of Man. It has a small harbour for leisure and fishing craft, but the main reason to visit is to explore the peninsula beyond, which has a scenic hamlet, gaping chasms, megaliths and clifftop views. In 2021 the population of Port St Mary was about 2000.

Get in

Port St Mary is 13 miles southwest of Douglas the capital and ferry port, and 4 miles west of Ronaldsway Airport (IOM ^IATA).

Buses 1, 2 and 11 each run hourly from Douglas to the airport, Castletown, Port Erin and Port St Mary, so the combined service is every 20 min. The last bus is around 9PM, with a night bus N1 just after Friday midnight.

1 Port St Mary railway station is on the narrow-gauge IOM Steam Railway, which operates mid-March to end of October. Four trains a day take an hour from Douglas via Castletown to Port St Mary, and continue to Port Erin.

Get around

"It appears that Port St Mary Commissioners lurch inelegantly from one crisis to another."

- stated in Tynwald the Manx parliament in 2018

Walk or take the bus: Bus 28 runs mid-June to Aug Sa Su hourly from Port Erin to Port St Mary, Cregneash (for village museum) and Calf Sound at the south tip of the island.

The local taxi operator gets rotten reviews.

See

• 1 Giant's Quoiting Stone is a megalith or menhir in the field by Beach Rd. It's 3.2 m high and thought to be Bronze Age, 3000-1000 BC. There's no public access to the field but you see enough from the road.
• 2 Chapel Beach, accessed from a walkway, is sandy but completed covered at high tide. A steep bank separates it from the Promenade and "Upper Village", with its wind-scoured cabbage palms and genteel facade. The Chapel of St Mary for which bay and port are named has disappeared.
• 3 The Harbour is the focus of "Lower Village", the older southern settlement, with attractive Victorian low-rise.
• 4 Cregneash, Howe Rd IM9 5PX. Apr-Oct: daily 11AM-3PM. A restored crofting hamlet, picturesque with its white-harled and thatched cottages and often used as a film and TV location. Four-horned Manx Loaghtan sheep peer over the drystone walls. Cregneash was one of the last redoubts of the Manx language: Irish Taoiseach Éamon de Valera visited in 1947 and conversed (in Irish) with Ned Maddrell (who spoke Manx) and they understood each other. (updated Apr 2023)
• 5 Meayll Circle is six sets of paired burial chambers from 3500 BC, a unique arrangement. It's atop Mull Hill a quarter mile north of Cregneash and accessible 24 hours, free.
• 6 The Chasms are an area where the sandstone headland has landslipped and cracked. Some are yawning fissures, others are obscure in the vegetation, but all are deep, so keep dogs and children on a tight leash. The gaunt derelict building was once a cafe. By car follow A31 to Cregneash then turn south down the narrow lane (praying you don't meet an oncoming vehicle) to the parking lot. On foot follow Fistard Rd from Port St Mary onto Chasms Rd, which is paved but barely wide enough for two bicycles to pass.

Cowshed at Cregneash

• Cronk Karran is a prehistoric stone circle 6 m in diameter, perched on the cliff edge 100 yards southwest of the Chasms building. Whether it was a living space, burial ground or other ritual site is not known.
• 7 Spanish Head is a breezy headland with 300-ft cliffs and views west to the Calf: access by footpath. The name is from Manx speeiney meaning splitting or peeling, like the terrain of the Chasms. Inevitably this has become garbled into "Spanish", with a bogus legend of a Spanish Armada shipwreck. They were never anywhere near: the retreating Armada knew the Irish Sea was bristling with English warships, and instead tried to limp home west of Ireland.
• 8 The Sound is end of the road, the southwest tip of the IOM mainland. Memorials here are to Sir William Percy Cowley (1856-1958) founder of the Manx National Trust, and to the rescue in 1858 of the crew of a stricken schooner; they had abandoned ship but their boats were pinned by stormy seas against the Thousla rocks. But the big draw is the view over the narrow channel (with a fierce tide race) to the Calf of Man. The Sound Cafe is open M-F 10AM-4PM, Sa Su 10AM-5PM and commands a panoramic view.
• Kitterland is the bifurcated islet 100 yards west of The Sound, part of the Calf nature reserve. The convoluted Norse legend of Kitter, and how some bewitched toad skins saved King Olaf's private parts, makes one grateful for modern TV sagas. Thousla Rock lighthouse is further out, almost hidden behind the islet.
• 9 Calf of Man is an island nature reserve reached by boat trip from Port St Mary or Port Erin.

Do

Meayll Circle

• Boat trips sail from the harbour to the Calf of Man.
• Golf: Port St Mary Golf Club is on the hill south of the harbour. This is nine holes, day ticket £15.

Buy

• Co-op Food on Bay View Rd is open daily 8AM-10PM.

Eat

• Fresh Fried & Crispy, Station Rd IM9 5BF (junction with Promenade), ☏ +44 7624 200586. W-Sa 5-8PM. Fish & chips cafe, eat in or take away. (updated Apr 2023)
• 1 Andrea's, Bay View Rd IM9 5DA, ☏ +44 1624 834040. W-Sa 5-10PM, Su 5-8PM. Small Italian looking onto main beach. (updated Apr 2023)

Drink

View from The Chasms

• Ventosus on Athol St by the harbour make "British wine" - the grape juice is imported. The shop is open W-F noon-5PM, Sa noon-2PM.
• Albert Hotel, 1 Athol St IM9 5DS (by harbour), ☏ +44 1624 832118. A good refuge, with meals. (updated Apr 2023)

Sleep

• 1 Glendown Farm Campsite, Truggan Rd IM9 5LD (a mile west of town), ☏ +44 1624 834699. Family-oriented campsite with hook-ups, glamping huts and self-catering rooms. Tent or campervan £11 ppn. (updated Apr 2023)
• Railway Station Hotel, Station Rd IM9 5LF (at station), ☏ +44 1624 832494. It is open for meals but in 2023 isn't offering accommodation. (updated Apr 2023)
• 2 Beach Croft Guest House, Station Rd IM9 5LF (a mile east of town), ☏ +44 1624 834521. Smart friendly B&B on the main road. (updated Apr 2023)
• 3 Shore Hotel, Shore Rd, Gansey IM9 5LZ (two miles east of town), ☏ +44 1624 832269. A pub with rooms serving good food. Dog-friendly. B&B double £160. (updated Apr 2023)

Connect

Port St Mary and its approach roads have 4G from Sure and Manx. As of April 2023, 5G has not rolled out on the Isle of Man.

Go next

• Calf of Man is an island nature reserve. Boat trips give you three hours ashore.
• Port Erin has more accommodation and is near Bradda Head.
• Castletown the former capital has a restored castle and other antiquities.