Creg-ny-Baa (English: /ˌkrɛɡnəˈbɑː/, Manx:[ˈkʰɾɛɡnəˈbɛ]; 'rock of the cow')[1] is located between the 3rd Milestone and 4th Milestone of the primary A18 Snaefell Mountain Road and the road junction with the secondary B12 'Creg-ny-Baa Back-Road',[2] in the parish of Kirk Onchan in the Isle of Man.
Description
The former farm estate of Creg-ny-Baa[3] is located near to the current Creg-ny-Baa road junction. A new hotel, the Keppel Gate Inn[4] was built c.1885[5] now known as the 'Keppel Hotel' or Creg-ny-Baa public house and restaurant.[6]
The area is also the site of a radio and telecommunications station built in 1939 for the UK General Post Office near to the Creg-ny-Baa road junction.[7]
Motor-sport heritage
The Creg-ny-Baa section of the A18 Snaefell Mountain Road was part of the 52.15 mile Highland Course (amended to 40.38 miles in 1906[8]) and the 37.50 Mile Four Inch Course used for car racing including the 1904 Gordon Bennett Trial and the RAC Tourist Trophy car races held between 1905 and 1922.[9]
In 1911 the Four Inch Course was first used by the Auto-Cycling Union for the Isle of Man TT motorcycle races.[10] This included the Creg-ny-Baa section[11] and the course later became known as the 37.73 mile Isle of Man TT Mountain Course for motor-cycle racing which has been used since 1911 for the Isle of Man TT and from 1923 for the Manx Grand Prix races.[12]
Clypse course 1954–1959
To enable motor-cycle and sidecar racing on the new Clypse Course for the 1954 Isle of Man TT Races, during the winter of 1953–54 road widening and re-profiling occurred on the TT Course at the Creg-ny-Baa road junction along with nearby Signpost Corner, Cronk-ny-Mona and the approach to Governor's Bridge by the Isle of Man Highway and Transport Board.[13]
Steve Hislop riding the rotary-engined Norton RCW 588 at the Creg-ny-Baa in 1992, with the white building of Kate's Cottage visible in background
Keppel Hotel or Creg-ny-Baa pub
Looking down the steep descent towards the sharp right turn at Creg-ny-Baa, with the emergency slip-road to left of the pub and Kate's Cottage behind the camera position
Sources
^Place Names of The Isle of Man – Da Ny Manninee Dooie Volume Four Sheading of Garff (Kirk Maughold & Ramsey, Kirk Lonan and Kirk Connchan) page 419 Kirk Onchan by George Broderick (1999) Manx Place- Name Survey, Max Niemeyer Verlag Tubingen ISBN3-484-40138-9 (Gesamtwerk) 3-484-10132-X Druck: Das Weihert-Druck GmbH Darmstadt, Eiband: Siegfried Geiger, Ammerbuch “….Creg ne baa ....small area round the road junction at 3787 in SC3981”
^An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of the Isle of Man page 42 by David T.Webber Revised by Frank Cowin and F.J.Radcliffe;- Editor Gordon N. Kniveton (1997) The Manx Experience ISBN1-873120-25-7 "A road junction on the Douglas to Ramsey Mountain Road leading to Laxey."
^Manx Sun page 24 Small Estate Onchan Saturday 24 February 1883
^Isle of Man Examiner page 5 special Licensing Court Saturday 16 May 1885 The case of John Senogles, who had applied for a licensing for the Keppel Gate Hotel….
^Isle of Man Times page 20 Licensing Court 16 May 1885
^Manx Inns – A Pub crawl through History page 95 Suzanne Cubbon – Heron & Brealey Ltd (1998) Amulree Publications ISBN978-1-901508-01-7
^Isle of Man Examiner page 1 Friday 20 January 1939 Creg-ny-Baa Radio Station
^TT Pioneers – Early Car Racing in the Isle of Man page 22 Robert Kelly, Mercury Asset Management (1996) (1st Edition) The Manx Experience, The Alden Press ISBN No 1 873120 61 3
^Isle of Man Car Races 1904–1953 page 30 by Neil Hanson (2015) Lily Publications ISBN978-1-907945-36-6
^The Manx Experience. A Souvenir Guide to the Isle of Man. page 66-67 Gordon N. Kniverton 8th edition The Manx Experience (1987) Mannin Publishing Ltd
