__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 ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

. It has been asserted in the Isle of Man's program of Registered Buildings that the cottage was built by 1869. It is a former Mountain Shepherd's cottage that is situated adjacent to the 34th TT Milestone racing road-side milestone marker used on the

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 ...

near to

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 ...

on the primary

A18 A18 or A-18 is a three-character acronym that may refer to: * A18 road (disambiguation), in several countries * A-18 Shrike, a Curtiss Model 76A twin radial engine monoplane service test aircraft of the mid-1930s * Aero A.18, a Czech fighter aircra ...

Snaefell mountain road in Kirk Onchan parish, in the

Keppel Gate and the A18 Snaefell Mountain Road

The A18 Snaefell Mountain Road was developed in the mid-19th century from a number of pre-existing narrow mountain roads, carting-tracks and horse-paths. This section of the A18 Snaefell Mountain Road from the Keppel Gate to the Windy Corner was built on sections of common grazing land that were transferred to the UK Crown following the sale of the Islands feudal and manorial rights by John Murray, 4th Duke of Atholl as Governor of the Isle of Man in the period 1824-1829. The

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 ...

Disafforesting Commission of 1860 allowed for the proposed sale of mountain land held by the UK Crown to the HM Commissioners of Woods. A condition of sale was the building of a new mountain road from near Hillberry Corner to the Windy Corner. This included the installation of a number of mountain gates including the Beinn-y-Phott gate near to the Brandywell road junction and Keppel Gate. The new mountain 'highroads' were built in the period 1864-1866, replacing and bypassing older sections of mountain tracks including the Keppel Gate section. The section of the mountain road from the Creg-ny-Baa road junction to near Kate's Cottage was rebuilt in the period 1892-1893 and again modified in 1922.

Area of Specific Scientific Interest

The mountain land of moorland "heath" of Keppel Gate, including Slieau Ree Mountain and Kate's Cottage is an Area of Specific Scientific Interest (ASSI) and upland conservation "hot-spot."

Origin of name

Formal names of the building include the "Keppel Gate Cottage," or "Keppel Gate." Previously, also known as the "Shepherd's Hut" or ''Tate's Cottage,'' now known as Kate's Cottage. It has often been alluded to that a BBC commentator mistakenly referred to ''Tate's Cottage'' as ''Kate's Cottage.'' The name may have originated as a printers typesetting error with the mountain cottage at the Keppel mountain accidentally being transposed to ''Kate's Cottage'' during the printing process. The property a former Mountain Shepherd's cottage, owned by the Isle of Man Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, was sold at

public auction In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

in 1994 and is now in private ownership.

Motor-sport heritage

Contemporary photographs of the RAC Tourist Trophy races for automobiles held in the Isle of Man 1905–1922 and the Isle of Man TT races in the 1920s, show sheep-gates at Kate's Cottage and also at Keppel Gate, with the name Keppel Gate in general referred to both locations. The Keppel Gate section of the A18 Snaefell Mountain Road was part of the

Highland Course Highroads Course was a road-racing circuit used for the Gordon Bennett British Eliminating Trial held in the Isle of Man for the 1904 and 1905 Tourist Trophy Race involving touring automobiles and cars. The events were held on public roads clos ...

(amended to in 1906) and the

Four Inch Course The Four Inch Course was a road-racing circuit first used for the 1908 Tourist Trophy Race for cars, held on public roads closed for racing by an Act of Tynwald (the parliament of the Isle of Man). The name of the course derives from the regu ...

used for car racing including the 1904 Gordon Bennett Trial and the

RAC Tourist Trophy The RAC Tourist Trophy (sometimes called the International Tourist Trophy) is a motor racing award presented by the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) to the overall victor of a motor race in the United Kingdom. Established in 1905, it is the world's ol ...

car races held between 1905 and 1922. In

1911 A notable ongoing event was the Comparison of the Amundsen and Scott Expeditions, race for the South Pole. Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory ...

, the Four Inch Course was first used by the Auto-Cycling Union for the Isle of Man TT motorcycle races. This included the Keppel Gate section and Kate's Cottage and the course later became known as the 37.73 mile

for motor-cycle racing which has been used since 1911 for the Isle of Man TT and from 1923 for the

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.''Isle of Man Times'' page 8 MANX GRAND PRIX MOTOR CYCLE RACES Saturday 2 August 1952

Gallery

File:2009 Kate's Cottage Michael Dunlop.JPG,

Michael Dunlop Michael Dunlop (born 10 April 1989) is a Northern Irish professional motorcycle racer. Part of a motorcycle racing dynasty, Michael is the brother of the late William Dunlop, son of Robert and nephew of former World Champion Joey Dunlop. He ...

racing by Kate's Cottage on a demonstration lap during the 2009 TT races, riding an updated version of the 1990s rotary-engined

Norton RCW588 The Norton RCW588 is a Works Racing motorcycle, produced for the 1988 to 1994 racing seasons, initially with an air-cooled version of the road-going twin-rotor Wankel engine used in the Classic soon followed by watercooled versions from 1989. R ...

File:Kate's Cottage - geograph.org.uk - 26208.jpg, Kate's Cottage, looking in the opposite direction of a lap of the TT course (vehicles shown on left side of road are going north, while race direction would be south) with

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 ...

behind the camera position

References

External links

Prohibited and Restricted Areas for the Isle of Man TT Races, Classic TT and Manx Grand Prix, Kate's Cottage
{{Isle of Man Racing Circuits

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 ...