# Laurel Bank

Laurel Bank (archaic Manx: Cronk-y-Killey - ‘Killey’s Hill’) is situated between the 10th Milestone and 11th Milestone road-side markers on the primary A3 Castletown to Ramsey Road between Ballacraine and Glen Helen in the parish of Kirk German in the Isle of Man.

## Description

The area of Laurel Bank is located in a former ‘Treen’ Old Norse: eyrisland (a sixteenth century legal, land or fiscal district for the payment of tax) of Balydoyne consisting of the Quarterlands of Cronk-y-Killey and Ballakilley-ny-Howin.
The area is located in the northern section of Glen Mooar valley in the parish of German including Laurel Bank farm and house (built c. 1848) and the Ebenezer Lane. The River Neb runs parallel to the Laurel Bank section of the A3 Castletown to Peel Road from Glen Helen to Ballacraine with the nearby summit of Beary Mountain 1,020 feet (311 m).

## Motor-sport heritage

The Glen Helen section of the A3 Castletown to Ramsey road including ‘Laurel Bank’ was part of the St. Johns Short Course used for the Isle of Man TT races between 1907 and 1910.
The ‘Laurel Bank' section was also part of the 37.50 Mile Four Inch Course for the RAC Tourist Trophy automobile races held in the Isle of Man between 1908 and 1922.
In 1911, the Four Inch Course for automobiles was first used by the Auto-Cycling Union for the Isle of Man TT motorcycle races. This included Laurel Bank and the course later became known as the 37.73 mile Isle of Man TT Mountain Course which has been used since 1911 for the Isle of Man TT Races and from 1923 for the Manx Grand Prix races.
During the 1962, Junior TT the former FIM World Motor-Cycle Champion, Tom Phillis riding a 285cc Honda crashed fatally at the approach to the Laurel Bank section of the TT Course.

## Sources

* ↑ Place Names of The Isle of Man – Da Ny Manninee Dooie Vol.1. Sheading of Glenfaba (Kirk Patrick, Kirk German, and Peel.) page 237 & 271 Kirk German by George Broderick (1999) Manx Place- Name Survey, © Max Niemeyer Verlag GmbH & Co. KG Tübingen 1994 ISBN 3-484-40138-9 (Gesamtwerk) 3-484-40129-x (band 1) Druck und Einband: Das Weihert-Druck GmbH Darmstadt “….’Killey’s Hill’ Mx….rather than ‘hill of the church’…SC28317347: laurel bank 1848D02/1848(24)) Laurel Bank House and Farm CS1871”
* ↑ Isle of Man Examiner – Brialatgh Ellan Vannin Page 63 Tuesday 6 August 2019 Isle of Man Newspapers Ltd (2019) Newsprint (Knowlsley) Ltd ISSN 1358-4383
* ↑ Place Names of The Isle of Man – Da Ny Manninee Dooie Vol.1. Sheading of Glenfaba (Kirk Patrick, Kirk German, and Peel.) pages 189, 204 and 237 Kirk German by George Broderick (1999) Manx Place- Name Survey, © Max Niemeyer Verlag GmbH & Co. KG Tübingen 1994 ISBN 3-484-40138-9 (Gesamtwerk) 3-484-40129-x (band 1) Druck und Einband: Das Weihert-Druck GmbH Darmstadt. "Cronk-y-Killey QL (TR-Balydoyne) (QL Ballakilley ny Howin "
* ↑ A Gazetteer of the Isle of Man page 152 Leslie Qulliam RBV The Manx Heritage Foundation - Eiraght Ashoonagh Vannin (2005) Quine and Cubbon Ltd ISBN 0 951 4539 12 "Laurel Bank, GERMAN 284834"
* ↑ HM Ordnance Survey Landranger Series Sheet 95 (Surveyed 1992) ISLE OF MAN Scale 1:50,000
* ↑ TT Special edited by G.S. Davison page 13 Saturday 5 June 1954
* ↑ Isle of Man TT page 49 Ch 3. COURSES FOR HORSES ! Charles Deane Patrick Stevens Ltd PSL (1978) Cambridge ISBN 0 85059 313 1
* ↑ 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
* ↑ Round the TT Course with Harold Daniell R.R. Holliday Motor Cycling (c. 1947) Castrol Oils That Lap at 91! Harold L.Daniell, TT Record Holder. Tells How it was done.
* ↑ The Guardian page 10 Thursday 26 May 1955
* ↑ The History of the Manx Grand Prix page 7, 8, 9 by Bill Snelling Amulree Publishing(1998) Manx Heritage Foundation ISBN 1 901508 04 8
* ↑ Daily Express page 13 Thursday 7 June 1962