Today was a bit on the rainy side. Not windy; not cold; but definitely rainy...

So we started at Braddan Bridge, where -- once upon a time -- I sat with my parents watching either the TT races or the practices (probably the practices), and eating banana sandwiches...

Today, we didn't do any of that. We started off in the "new" church, dedicated to St Brendan:







Across the road there's a very historic and atmospheric "old" church, complete with a collection of Celtic and Norse crosses and an interesting graveyard:




















By the time we'd had coffee and Victoria sponge (at the nearby Kirby Park Garden Centre and Cafe), done a little shopping, and had lunch (back at the Cafe Villa), the weather had eased considerably.

So we headed for Onchan. Specifically, Royal Avenue West, where my great-grandmother used to live (and my mother, too, for a while). During the war, Mum's grandma was one of the many who had to vacate their houses so that they could be used to intern "enemy aliens".

There's a good introduction to all this here:

"When war was declared in September 1939, there were about 75,000 Germans and Austrians living in Britain. Some had lived in Britain for several years, others were economic migrants but many were religious (Jewish) or political refugees who had fled from Nazi persecution in Germany and later in Austria. Following the declaration of war, all German and Austrian nationals had to register as ‘enemy aliens’ and go before a tribunal to determine whether they posed a security risk or not. Only a minority were deemed to have Nazi sympathies (and were immediately arrested and imprisoned), some had their freedom of movement curtailed (for example they couldn’t live near the coast but were otherwise free to do as they wanted) and the majority were deemed genuine refugees and therefore ‘friendly’ enemy aliens. But all this changed when Germany’s invasion of France, Belgium and the Netherlands began on the 10th May 1940... By the end of May 1940, British and Allied troops were being evacuated from Dunkirk (many on requisitioned Manx Steam Packet vessels) and on the 10th June, Italy joined the Axis powers with Germany and Britain was now under threat of invasion. Suddenly there were no 'friendly' enemy aliens, just thousands of potential 5th Columnists and enemy spies spread throughout Britain, including thousands of Italians who had lived in Britain for several years."

There were camps at the Mooragh in Ramsey; on Douglas prom ("whole blocks of hotels were surrounded with barbed wire fencing from June 1940 onwards"); in Rushen (Port Erin and Port St Mary); and in Onchan.

Many considered the Onchan facilities to be superior: "What might have been considered the ‘best’ camp to be in was Onchan Camp (Royal Avenue West and Belgravia Road). Physically one of the largest camps in terms of size, the site contained space to grow vegetables, keep chickens, play football and to generally be able to move around -- a luxury not enjoyed in many of the other camps. It also held a large number of academics and artists and as a result there were art exhibitions staged in the camp and a full programme of lectures and classes that internees could attend at the ‘Onchan Youth College and University’ within the camp. Approximately 1,300 Germans and Austrian were held in Onchan Camp from June 1940 until it closed in July 1941. The camp then reopened in September 1941 to house Italian internees and finally closed in November 1944."








There's such a wealth of interesting history in this small place. Bit by bit, I begin to stick it all together.