The Barrow
Period: Late Medieval
NGR Easting: 229130
NGR Northing: 469250
Description: Medieval and post-Medieval watch station.
The hill for the Day Watch for the parish of Malew was at 'The Barrow', according to a document dated 1627 within the Castle Rushen Papers archive. Based on place name evidence and topographical observation, The Barrow would appear to be the hilltop now known as the Broogh. The hill is marked by a cropmark enclosure of possible Iron Age date.
The Day Watch was part of a system of 'watch and ward' instituted on a parish-by-parish basis throughout the Isle of Man, beginning putatively in the Viking Age and lasting until the 17th century.
Local militia were expected to keep watch from hilltops during daylight hours, and from vulnerable coastal locations - inlets, rivermouths and open beaches - at night.
One of the ports for the Night Watch in Malew was at 'Reynoldsway', i.e. Ronaldsway, which may in actuality refer to modern Derbyhaven or the mouth of the Santon Burn at Cass ny Hawin, where an apparently Iron Age promontory fort shows extensive signs of modification during the medieval period (PRN 0074). The site is only 600m east of the Broogh, and the two are intervisible.
View map location on Archaeology Data Service
Site & Monument Type: watch station
Category: National Monuments Record: Archaeological Sites [single-site]
Site ID number: 0497.00
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