There are about eight small places on the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

with the name Ballabeg. The name Ballabeg derives from the Manx which means small homestead; although the spelling is different, it is pronounced approximately the same as the English name. This article is about the hamlet of Ballabeg in the parish of Lonan, on the east of the island, overlooking

Laxey Bay Laxey Bay () is a coastal feature and Marine Nature Reserve on the east coast of the Isle of Man in the north Irish Sea. Geographically it is bounded by Laxey Head () to the north and Clay Head () to the south. The bay is home to eelgrass Zoster ...

. The settlement dates from at least 1643, when a ''Ballabegg'' was recorded on the

Castle Rushen Castle Rushen () is a medieval castle located in the Isle of Man's historic capital, Castletown, in the south of the Island. It towers over the Market Square to the south-east and the harbour to the north-east. The castle is amongst the best e ...

Manorial Roll, under the ownership of

Furness Abbey Furness Abbey, or St. Mary of Furness, is a former monastery located to the north of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. The abbey dates back to 1123 and was once the second-wealthiest and most powerful Cistercian monastery in the country, behi ...

. It is about 300 metres from the sea shore. Ballabeg in Lonan is located 9 km or nearly 6 miles NE of the capital,

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 ...

, and 2 km south of the village of

Laxey Laxey () is a village on the east coast of the Isle of Man. Its name derives from the Old Norse ''Laxa'' meaning 'Salmon River'. Its key distinguishing features are its three working vintage railways and the largest working waterwheel in the wo ...

. The hamlet only consists of a farm and a handful of houses, but also is home to the small Ballabeg tram stop which celebrated its centenary in 2005. When the

Manx Electric Railway The Manx Electric Railway ( Manx: ''Raad Yiarn Lectragh Vannin'') is an electric interurban tramway connecting Douglas, Laxey and Ramsey in the Isle of Man. It connects with the Douglas Bay Horse Tramway at its southern terminus at Derby Cas ...

was built through Ballabeg in 1894 an ancient Celtic

keeill Keeill (also ''keill, keeil''; plural ''kialteenyn'' or ''keeills'') is a specific type of small simple chapel found on the Isle of Man and built between the 6th and 12th centuries. Etymology The word is a borrowing from Manx Gaelic where it me ...

and adjoining

burial ground A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many dead people are buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ) implies th ...

were discovered. The keeill was known as Keeill Killane (with many spelling variations), shortened to Kilkillane, and gives its name to a nearby stream known as Strooan ny Carlane / Kilane and a house in the hamlet called Kilan. No traces of the keeill survive today. Many lintel graves, buried in triplets, were found at the site. It is believed that the bodies were exhumed and removed, while a large wooden cross and plaque, since removed, marked the site for many years. A small white cottage, known as the schoolhouse, still stands in Ballabeg next to the site of the former keeill. The building was used as a schoolhouse, religious chapel and social cottage where the locals would gather to play music and tell stories. It is currently being used as a warehouse. The landscape of Ballabeg is mainly agricultural land used for the grazing of sheep. There are areas of mature and newly planted woodland (including a nationally important cliff-side ancient oak forest remnant),

gorse ''Ulex'' (commonly known as gorse, furze, or whin) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. The genus comprises about 20 species of thorny evergreen shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are na ...

, brooghs (

headland A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, Jo ...

s) and small dubs or ponds. The A2

Ramsey Ramsey may refer to: Companies *Ramsey (retailer), Turkish clothing retailer People * Ramsey (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Ramsey (surname), including a list of people with the surname * Baron de Ramsey, a title i ...

road bisects the

settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), downward movement of a structure's foundation *Settlement (finance), where securities are delivered against payment of money *Settlement (litigatio ...

. The

runs through the settlement and has a

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line or the road etc. crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, o ...

there. The

Raad ny Foillan is a coastal long-distance footpath in the Isle of Man. Because it is a closed loop around the coast, it can be walked in either a clockwise or an anti-clockwise direction. Route and history The ' starts and finishes at the Millennium Bridge o ...

long-distance path also passes through Ballabeg. The settlement has no defined boundaries but is said to be bounded by the Raad Ballagawne in the south, the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...

(

) in the east, Church Road in Ballacannel to the north and the old road from Lonan Church to Raad Ballagawne in the west. In 2018

was designated as a

Marine Nature Reserve Marine nature reserve (MNR) is a conservation designation officially awarded by a government to a marine reserve of national significance. Republic of Ireland Lough Hyne, a marine lake off of County Cork, is Ireland's only marine nature reserve. Un ...

.https://www.gov.im/about-the-government/departments/environment-food-and-agriculture/ecosystem-policy-and-energy/wildlife-biodiversity-and-protected-sites/protected-sites/marine-nature-reserves/?iomg-device=Mobile

References

{{reflist * Manx Archaeological Register, available from the

Centre for Manx Studies The Centre for Manx Studies () is a department of the School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology in the University of Liverpool whose focus is the study of the Isle of Man, the Manx language Manx ( or , or ), also known as Manx Gaelic, ...

. http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/history/arch/4rpt/ln.htm Villages in the Isle of Man