The A18 Snaefell Mountain Road or ''Mountain Road'' ( gv, Giat y Clieau) is a primary main A-road of in length which connects the towns of

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals *Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking *Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil W ...

and

Ramsey Ramsey may refer to: Geography British Isles * Ramsey, Cambridgeshire, a small market town in England * Ramsey, Essex, a village near Harwich, England ** Ramsey and Parkeston, a civil parish formerly called just "Ramsey" * Ramsey, Isle of Man, t ...

in the Isle of Man.

Description

The Mountain Road is part of

Isle of Man TT Mountain Course The Isle of Man TT Mountain Course or ''TT Course'' is a street and public rural road circuit located in the Isle of Man, used for motorcycle racing. The motorcycle ''TT Course'' is used principally for the Isle of Man TT Races and also the sep ...

or TT Course, a road-racing circuit used for the

Isle of Man TT The Isle of Man TT or Tourist Trophy races are an annual motorcycle racing event run on the Isle of Man in May/June of most years since its inaugural race in 1907. The event is often called one of the most dangerous racing events in the world ...

and

Manx Grand Prix The Manx Grand Prix motorcycle races are held on the Isle of Man TT Course (or 'Snaefell Mountain Course, Mountain Circuit') every year for a two-week period, usually spanning the end of August and early September. New for 2022 is a period re ...

races, which have been held in the Isle of Man from 1911 and 1923 respectively. In the races, it is one-way from Ramsey towards Douglas. The racing is held on public roads closed for racing by an Act of

Tynwald Tynwald ( gv, Tinvaal), or more formally, the High Court of Tynwald ( gv, Ard-whaiyl Tinvaal) or Tynwald Court, is the legislature of the Isle of Man. It consists of two chambers, known as the branches of Tynwald: the directly elected House of ...

(the parliament of the Isle of Man). It is the oldest motor-cycle racing circuit still in use. The highest point of the course is on the A18 Snaefell Mountain Road between the

Bungalow A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is either single-story or has a second story built into a sloping roof (usually with dormer windows), and may be surrounded by wide verandas. The first house in England that was classified as a b ...

and

Hailwood's Height Hailwood's Height, preceded by ''Hailwood's Rise'', is situated between the 31st and 32nd Milestone road-side markers on the Snaefell Mountain Course used for the Isle of Man TT Races on the A18 Snaefell Mountain Road in the parishes of Lezayre a ...

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spot height A spot height is an exact point on a map with an elevation recorded beside it that represents its height above a given datum.Whittow, John (1984). ''Dictionary of Physical Geography''. London: Penguin, 1984, p. 506. . In the UK this is the Ordnan ...

above sea level, with gradients reaching 14%. The A18 Snaefell Mountain Road was described in the publication ''Classic Motor-Sport Routes'' as:

Route

The A18

Snaefell Snaefell ( on, snjœ-fjall/snjó-fall – snow mountain) – ( gv, Sniaull) is the highest mountain and the only summit higher than on the Isle of Man, at above sea level. The summit is crowned by a railway station, cafe and several communic ...

Mountain Road runs from the A2 Governor's Road at Governor's Bridge in Douglas north to Ramsey, and includes the A18 Bemahague Road from Governor's Bridge to Signpost Corner with the A39 Hillbery Road junction. As part of the

, in reverse direction it passes through

Cronk-ny-Mona Cronk-ny-Mona () is situated between the 36 and 37 mile markers used for the Snaefell Mountain Course, being on the primary A18 Mountain Road at the road junction with the A21 ''Johnny Watterson('s) Lane'' and the tertiary C10 Scholag Road in t ...

and the road junction with the A6 ''Johnny Watterson's Lane'' and the C10 Scollag Road. The A18 Road then passes

Hillberry Corner Hillberry Corner (in gv, Knock berrey or ''Cronkybury'') is situated at the 36th Milestone road-side marker on the Snaefell Mountain Course, being on the primary A18 Mountain Road with the side-road junction of the C22 Little Mill Road, in the ...

and the junction with the C22 Little Mill Road,

Brandish Corner Brandish Corner (formerly known as ''Upper-Hillberry Corner'' and previously ''Telegraph Hill'') is situated between the 35th and 36th Milestone road-side markers on the Snaefell Mountain Course on the primary A18 Mountain Road in the parish of O ...

Creg-ny-Baa __NOTOC__ Creg-ny-Baa (, ; 'rock of the cow') is located between the 3rd Milestone and 4th Milestone of the primary A18 Snaefell Mountain Road and the road junction with the secondary B12 'Creg-ny-Baa Back-Road', in the parish of Kirk Onchan in ...

Kate's Cottage __NOTOC__ Kate's Cottage, Isle of Man is a cottage and one of the named corners of the Snaefell Mountain Course used in Grand Prix-style motorcycle racing along public roadways of the Isle of Man. It has been asserted in the Isle of Man's pro ...

Keppel Gate Keppel Gate, Isle of Man () is part of a former UK HM Commissioners of Woods and Forest estate, including a series of former highway mountain gates. It is now Common land in public ownership and is one of three purpose built former Crown Ro ...

, the Windy Corner and the B10 Beinn-y-Phott Road road junction with

Brandywell The Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium ( ga, Tobar an Fhíoruisce ) is a municipal football stadium with an adjoining greyhound racing track in Derry, Northern Ireland. It is the home ground of League of Ireland team Derry City F.C. and (temporari ...

. Continuing north, the A18 Mountain Road passes over the

Snaefell Mountain Railway The Snaefell Mountain Railway ( gv, Raad Yiarn Sniaull) is an electric mountain railway on the Isle of Man in Europe. It joins the village of Laxey with the summit of Snaefell, at above sea level the highest point on the island. It connects w ...

tramway crossing at the

and the A14 Sulby Glen Road,

Bungalow Bridge The Graham Memorial (also the Bungalow Bridge or Shepherd's Hut) is a stone shelter situated between the 30th Milestone and the 31st Milestone road-side markers on the Snaefell Mountain Course on the primary A18 Snaefell mountain road in the par ...

Verandah A veranda or verandah is a roofed, open-air gallery or porch, attached to the outside of a building. A veranda is often partly enclosed by a railing and frequently extends across the front and sides of the structure. Although the form ''veran ...

, Stonebreakers Hut, East Snaefell Mountain Gate, Mountain Box, the Mountain Mile including Guthrie's Memorial, 26th Milestone, the D28 Hibernia Road junction at the Gooseneck,

Water Works Corner Waterworks, Isle of Man, sometimes known as Waterworks Corner,''Isle of Man TT'' by Charles Deane, p.42 1975, Patrick Stephens Limited, Cambridge, Accessed 22 December 2015 is a point on the Snaefell Mountain Course used for the Isle of Man TT ...

, Ramsey Hairpin and Whitegates. The A18 Snaefell Mountain Road at its northern end includes two small sections of road previously held in private ownership between Cruickshank's Corner and the road junctions with the A9 Ramsey to Andreas Road and the A2 Douglas to Ramsey Road situated in the town of Ramsey.

Origins and History

The A18 Snaefell Mountain Road was developed in the mid-19th century from a number of pre-existing roads, cart-tracks and bridle paths. This included installation of a number of sheep-gates including the East Mountain Gate, the Beinn-y-Phott sheep-gate at

and Keppel Gate. The section of the A18 Snaefell Mountain Road from Keppel Gate northwards to the Gooseneck corner near

was built on common grazing land that was transferred to the Crown following the sale of the Island's feudal rights by the

Duke of Atholl Duke of Atholl, named for Atholl in Scotland, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland held by the head of Clan Murray. It was created by Queen Anne in 1703 for John Murray, 2nd Marquess of Atholl, with a special remainder to the heir male of h ...

after the Disafforesting Commission of 1860. As the A18 Snaefell Mountain Road is purpose-built, it reflects typical 19th century highway and railway construction practices, with many small-scale cuttings, embankments and revetments, and follows land contours with purpose-built graded sections intersected by right-angle bends, road junctions and sheep-gates.

Milestones

The A18 Snaefell Mountain Road has small metal milestones from the period of James Garrow as Isle of Man Surveyor-General; they are numbered numerically from Douglas to Ramsey.

National Geographic Top 10 Drives

In 2014, the National Geographic magazine nominated the A18 Snaefell Mountain Road as No 8 in the ''Top 10 Driver's Drives''.''Manx Independent – Manninagh Seyr'' page 10 ''TRAVEL Mountain Road is top 10 Drive'' Isle of Man Newspapers Ltd (2014) Johnston Press Publishing – Sheffield Web Thursday 18 September 2014 "The Mountain Road has been included in the National Geographic top 10 Drivers' Drives."

Sources

External links

Isle of Man Government Webcam Station

Bungalow Bridge to Thirty Third Milestone
with

Steve Hislop Robert Steven Hislop (11 January 1962 – 30 July 2003) was a Scottish motorcycle racer. Hislop won at the Isle of Man TT eleven times, won the British 250cc Championship (1990) and British Superbike championship (1995 and 2002). Hislop di ...

, 11 times TT winner
TT Spectator Guide Section The Bungalow to Kate's Cottage
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Map of course
Roads in the Isle of Man