Colby () is a small village in the south of 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 ...

in the parish of Arbory. It lies on the A7 road between the towns of Castletown and Port Erin and close to the similarly sized village of Ballabeg.

History and facilities

The name Colby is of Scandinavian origin, and is thought to derive from the

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

words ''col'' (meaning hill) and ''byr'' (meaning farm). The village has a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

on the Isle of Man Steam Railway and is home to Colby Glen, one of the seventeen National Manx Glens. The village is home to Colby

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

Club who play in the Isle of Man Football League and are based at Station Road.

Methodism

Colby has long been associated with

Methodism Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

John Wesley John Wesley ( ; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a principal leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies ...

preached at Balladoole in 1781, invited to do so by a local family. The first Methodist preacher arrived in the village in 1822 and a local house was set up as the Preaching House for Primitive Methodists. By 1883 two Methodist chapels were built, Colby Primitive Methodist Chapel on Main Road which closed in 1950, when the two chapels united and is now a private house. Colby Wesleyan Methodist Chapel on Station Road was also built in 1833.

Colby Glen

Colby Glen is a small valley just north of the village, with ash, beech, elm, and sycamore trees. It is 2.0 hectares or . The Colby river runs through it. It is one of the officially-listed

Manx National Glens Manx National Glens is a collective term for a series of glens in the Isle of Man which have been officially designated as tourist attractions. They are maintained by the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture (Isle of Man), Department o ...

References

{{Isle of Man Villages in the Isle of Man Geography of the Isle of Man