Harris Promenade just after completion, Douglas

Date(s): n.d.

Scope & Content: On the back of this photograph Frowde writes, 'The Harris Promenade just after completion. Taking down the old shore wall (about 30 inches above the road) which extended all along the shore northward to the slipway opposite Falcon Cliff (McCrone's) men putting up railing posts at the far end by the first lifeboat house on the promenade. *note the seats. Barnes' Cottage in the Villa Marina Wall. The plate is badly scored, but a fairly good picture from it appears in the Manxman (The Three Legged Magazine) No 19, August 1923. In drawer 4 R. Mrs Firth's house, Marina (Villa? qv) where Church Rd boarding house terrace is now, seen between St Thomas' Church and Marina Terrace. The Marina Hotel is between the two, but out of the picture. November '31. Have always had the idea that Mr S Harris stood the whole cost of the Harris Promenade. I have a Manx Sun of 1863 in which at a Commissioners' meeting, there was read a letter from Mr H asking what steps the Commissioners were taking about his promenade proposal, as it was time they replied to his letter. The promenade was finished and handed over to the town in 1868, and was erected by public subscription - as noted elsewhere in this series, I think. *July 34. The Reverend Barnes who lived (with parents?) in this cottage, married Katie Davis (cousin to Mrs Kitto, Kensington Road these days). The Davis family lived in my present business premises, then a private house, (1874-1878 or '77) and I, as a child, was ever in and out of the house. My home was 1 Dalton St, just at the rear. On stormy winter Sundays Katie used to entertain me with pictures in the 'Sunday-at-Home', 'Leisure Hour', etc, while the wind roared in the palour chimney. That 'parlour' plus the old vestibule has been my pharmacy for 40 years and although the grate is not there, I get the same 'roar' in bad weather when the wind is in a certain quarter. In the first week of July this year (or the last in June) a Miss Barnes of N Zealand called with Mrs Kitto, to see me, Katie's daughter. Katie deceased a few years. Miss B - a bonnie lassie, took a photo of the old house but so different as a pharmacy to what it looked like as a private dwelling. This is not a picture, in its mutilated form - the plate is now hopeless, but it is none the less an interesting and informative document, especially re the ideas of the Commissioners regarding seating accommodation'.

#imuseumpromenade

Language: eng

Extent: overall: 15 cm x 20 cm

Physical description: black & white print

Item name: photograph

Collection: Photographic Archive

Level: ITEM

ID number: PG/8224/18/55

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