Demolition has begun on the former Motorlands garage at Bay ny Carrickey, Rushen.
Hartford Homes secured planning consent in September to build three detached homes, each with an attached double garage, on the site of the former commercial garage on Shore Road and the red-tiled dormer bungalow called Nooklands next door (15/00739/B).
Planning officers had described the application as a substantial missed opportunity to create three bespoke homes, given that properties of similar design were the exception rather than the norm on Gansey shore. The plans were subsequently amended to make the properties more individual-looking with two to get cladding in contrasting colours.
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the site was a brewery owned by Edward Gawne of Kentraugh.
Edward Gawne (1770 to 1837), made a great deal of money out of brewing with which he purchased Kentraugh and other property in Rushen. He was a sharp lawyer who took advantage of a Manx law on lapsed mortgages.
Running farmers into debt via alcohol he was able to acquire a lot of land in the agricultural depression that followed the Napoleonic wars.
Little, if anything, remains of the old brewery.
In the 1920s and 30s, Connal’s garage operated from the site and then after the Second World War it became the Shore Garage.
Nooklands was ran as a beach side cafe in the 1950s and 60s.
In the 1980s the whole site was acquired by businessman, the late Will Holtby, who operated the garage as Motorlands and built an extension on the side for his home.
Mr Holtby owned a number of properties in Port St Mary and in recent years concerns were raised about the poor state of repair of many of them.
Contractors JCK began demolition work last week. Nooklands has already been reduced to rubble.