Quarry Bends (Clarks Quarry; gv, Close e Volley – "Enclosure of the Old Curragh Road") is situated adjacent to the 20th Milestone road-side marker on the primary A3 Castletown to Ramsey, in the parishes of

Ballaugh Ballaugh ( ; , ) is a small village on the Isle of Man in the parish of the same name, in the sheading of Michael. It is the only village in the parish. The parish adjoins Jurby to the north, Lezayre to the east, Michael to the south and sout ...

and Kirk Christ Lezayre in 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 Europ ...

Location

Quarry Bends is the site of the

Curraghs Wildlife Park Curraghs Wildlife Park is a wildlife park in The Curraghs (also known as the Ballaugh Curraghs), an area of wetland in the north-west of the Isle of Man. The park is owned by the Isle of Man Government and is administered by the Department ...

and also the nearby Gob-y-Volley Forestry Plantation and the former Isle of Man Forestry Board, Close-e-Volley Depot and the nearby Ballavolley Quarry. The wetland enclosures at Close-e-Volley and Ballavolley are part of the

Ballaugh Curragh The Curraghs or Ballaugh Curraghs are a wetland in Ballaugh parish in the north-west of the Isle of Man. The area has a rich and varied biodiversity and is also the location of the Curraghs Wildlife Park, a zoo and nature reserve that incor ...

(

Norse Norse is a demonym for Norsemen, a medieval North Germanic ethnolinguistic group ancestral to modern Scandinavians, defined as speakers of Old Norse from about the 9th to the 13th centuries. Norse may also refer to: Culture and religion * Nor ...

: ''Mirescog'' – Mire of the

Turbary Turbary is the ancient right to cut turf, or peat, for fuel on a particular area of bog. The word may also be used to describe the associated piece of bog or peatland and, by extension, the material extracted from the turbary. Turbary rights, whi ...

) of 1,000 acres (405 ha) in area.

A3 Castletown to Ramsey Road

The primary A3 road was part of ''"the long round,"'' the former journey made by horse-drawn carriers from Castletown to Ramsey. The Ballaugh and Lezayre parish sections of the Ramsey old road before the draining of the remains of the post-glacial ''Lake Andreas'' (c.1500–1600) and the building of the Sulby Straight (c.1815), was the A13 Sandygate Road adjacent to the boundary of the Curragh's wetland along with the tertiary U7 Old Sulby Road, C29 Old Windmill Road and the B9 Ballacrye Road.

Curragh wildlife park

The Curragh's () were traditionally a wetlands area for growing hay for grazing including attempts in the 1930s to grow

New Zealand flax New Zealand flax describes the common New Zealand perennial plants ''Phormium tenax'' and ''Phormium colensoi'', known by the Māori names ''harakeke'' and ''wharariki'' respectively. Although given the common name 'flax' they are quite distinc ...

(Phormium tenax and Phormium colensoi). The wetlands area was purchased in 1963 by the Isle of Man Forestry, Lands and Mines Board and the

of 211 Acres (85 ha) at Quarry Bends and was opened by the

Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man The Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man ( gv, Fo-chiannoort Vannin or ''Lhiass-chiannoort Vannin'') is the Lord of Mann's official personal representative in the Isle of Man. He has the power to grant royal assent and is styled "His Excellen ...

, Sir Ronald Garvey on 23 July 1965. The Curragh's Wildlife Park is now part of the Isle of Man Department of Enterprise and the Wildlife Park includes from 1992

The Orchid Line The Orchid Line is a multi-gauge miniature railway operating within the Curraghs Wildlife Park in the north of the Isle of Man and is operated by the Manx Model Engineering Society. It was opened in May 1992. The track combines up to three ga ...

, a multi-gauge miniature railway of 1,750 feet in length operated by the Manx Model Engineering Society.

Former railway-line

In 1879, the

Manx Northern Railway The Manx Northern Railway (MNR) was the second common carrier railway built in the Isle of Man. It operated as an independent concern only from 1879 to 1905. History When the people in the town of Ramsey realised their town was not going to ...

built a narrow gauge railway from St.John's to Ramsey which ran parallel to the A3 road from Kirk Michael to

Sulby Bridge Sulby (; glv, Sulby) is a village in the parish of Kirk Christ Lezayre that is located on the A3 Castletown to Ramsey in the Isle of Man. Location Historically containing the ''Treen of the Curragh of Kirk Christ Lezayre'' and the ''Land ...

. The railway line crossed a number of minor roads as it passed through the Curraghs wetlands at Ballacrye, Ballavolley and Cooilbane. A small railway siding was built in 1882 to serve the Clarks stone quarry at Ballavolley, crossing the primary A3 road at Close-e-Volley. Later renamed Quarry Bends, the line running to a small loading wharf and railway siding to the main Ramsey to St. John's railway line.

Motor-sport heritage

The Quarry Bends complex of bends was part of the 37.50 Mile

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 ...

for the RAC Tourist Trophy automobile races held in the Isle of Man between 1906 and 1922. In

1911 A notable ongoing event was the race for the South Pole. Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory are added to the Commonwealth of Australia. * Ja ...

, the Four Inch Course for automobiles was first used by the Auto-Cycling Union 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 Isle of Man TT, 1907. The event is often called one of the most dangerous racing ...

motorcycle races. This included Quarry Bends and the course later became known as the 37.73 mile

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 ...

which has been used since 1911 for the

Races and from 1923 for the

Manx Grand Prix The Manx Grand Prix motorcycle races are held on the Isle of Man TT Course (or ' Mountain Circuit') every year for a two-week period, usually spanning the end of August and early September. New for 2022 is a period reduction from 14 to 9 days ...

races.

Road improvements

Extensive road widening and road profiling occurred during 1984/1985 at Quarry Bends by the Isle of Man Highway and Transport Board with the removal of trees and the creation of a road-side picnic-area.''The Observer'' page 22 Sunday 4 June 1989

Gallery

File:TT Riders approaching Quarry Bends - geograph.org.uk - 108737.jpg, TT racers approaching Quarry Bends in 2003

Sources

External links

The Curragh's Wildlife Park
{{Isle of Man Racing Circuits Quarry Bends