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Built to Last: The Mitre
Built to Last is our series looking at the old, and some not so old, buildings and structures around the island which appear on the list of Registered Buildings.
Welcome back, for those of you who stuck with us during the history of Barclays Bank in Castletown, we promised you a pub and here it is!
Built to Last is our series looking at the old, and some not so old, buildings and structures around the island which appear on the list of Registered Buildings.
Kirk Michael is home to several amazing things, Michael United FC, The Dovecote, Lee Mayers Traditional Butchers & Bacon Curers but even more iconic than any of these things is the Mitre.
A landmark pub on the TT course and Parish Walk route, the pub is famous the world over as a spot to watch the best motorsport in the world, the best parish to parish 24 hour walk in the world and as a stop off for the party bus.
But while we in 2023 love it as a place to drink, the Mitre is the island’s oldest watering hole, which is believed to date back to 1786.
To put that in context in that year, Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro premiered in Vienna, King George III was on the throne, Robert Burns’s Address to a Haggis is first published and Queen Victoria’s mum was born.
Originally standing on the Ballachrink Estate, meaning Hill Farm, the former farm house is believed to have been used as a coaching inn as early as 1786, while continuing in use as a farm, sometimes being divided between numerous tenants.
The building’s register says: ‘It appears from the Manx Wills records to have been occupied during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries by a family by the name of Cannell. Notably, it was sold by the Trustees of Lady Buchan’s estate in 1890. As her father, Colonel Wilks (1759 – 1831), had been born in Kirk Michael Rectory, where his father Rev James Wilks (1719 – 1777)3 was appointed Vicar in 1752.
‘It may well have come into her substantial property portfolio via her father’s will. The Rev Wilks had been closely associated with Bishop Wilson and, therefore, the ecclesiastical courthouse adjacent to the Mitre.’
The pub passed through several hands and tenants in the 19th century, including a Mr Pitchfork from Yorkshire, who had it redecorated and Peter Best, who took it on after leaving the Commercial in Laxey.
A daily stagecoach Aled at the Mitre in the 1880s and its distance from other parts of the island made it an accessible but desirable spot for local honeymooners.
The 20th century was to bring change to Kirk Michael and the Mitre, as in 1911 the first TT race was held around the Mountain Course, with the pub becoming a favourite spot for spectators.
In 1919, the pub was sold at auction, with the trustees of the estate of George Mullen instructing a Mr F.D Johnson to arrange the sale, with the Saturday October 18 edition of the Isle of Man Examiner describing it as a ‘situate in a most prominent position, and enjoys a large and profitable connection’.
The freehold was for sale again in 1921, this time for sale ‘together with motor gages, stables, etc’ and was described as ‘the only license house in district with large residential, tourist and catering business’.
By 1931, Mr Johnson was selling the pub for a third time, this time it was sold was ‘furniture’ and ‘trade utensils’ included. It was said to be in a good state of repair and ‘one of the best and most popular village and road-side hotels in the island’.
Jumping forward, the pub appeared in the Ramsey Courier when the licensee Robert Livingstone was fined £2 and 4 costs for selling drink to an underage boy (tut tut).
Today, of course, the Mitre is known for its open fire, beer garden and quality food and hosts an annual Hunt the Wren.
Long may that continue.
Sources for this piece include the Buildings Register, the iMuseum and the fantastic Manx Inns by Suzanne Cubbon.
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