Rushen (other)

Rushen ( ; gv, Rosien), formally Kirk Christ Rushen, is one of the seventeen historic parishes of the Isle of Man.

It is located in the south of the island (part of the traditional ''South Side'' division) in the sheading of the same name.

Administratively, part of the historic parish of Rushen, and the majority of the population, is now covered by the village districts of Port Erin and Port St Mary. As a result, there is an exclave of the parish district which includes the Calf of Man.

Other settlements in the parish include Cregneash.

Local government

For the purposes of local government, the majority of the area of the historic parish formed a single parish district, with Commissioners, but this has now been amalgamated with Arbory.(See Arbory and Rushen.)

Since the 1880s, two areas of the historic parish of Rushen have been the separate village districts of Port Erin and Port St Mary, each with its own village commissioners.

The Captain of the Parish (since 1998) is Stanley Ditchfield Clucas.

Politics

Rushen parish is split between two House of Keys constituencies: Rushen, covering the majority of the parish including Port Erin and Port St Mary, and the Arbory, Castletown & Malew constituency, which covers the eastern part of the historic parish. Each constituency elects two Members to the House of Keys. Before 2016, the whole parish was in the Rushen constituency.

Geography

Rushen parish includes the southwestern extremity of the island, together with the Calf of Man, along with its rocky outcrops Kitterland and Chicken Rock, and encompasses an area of about . It stretches along the coast from Strandhall (located about halfway between Castletown and Port St Mary) to the precipices west of Cronk ny Irrey Laa (Hill of the Day Watch, also spelled Arrey), known as the Stacks or the Slogh, covering a distance of . The principal headlands are Kallow Point, Black Head, Spanish Head (), and Bradda Head (); and the main inlets include Port St Mary Bay, Perwick Bay, Bay Stacka, Port Erin Bay, and Fleshwick Bay.

The west of the parish is hilly, extending southwards from Cronk ny Irrey Laa (, the highest point in the parish) along the western coast to Lhiattee ny Beinnee, Bradda Hill, Mull Hill, and the Sound, across which the ridge continues onto the Calf.

Port St Mary and Port Erin are the only significant settlements in the area, although they have now expanded to form a single continuous settlement. Cregneash is a small village and folk museum near Mull Hill.

Demographics

The Isle of Man census of 2016 recorded a parish population of 1,537, indicating a decrease of 6% from the figure of 1,629 in 2011. At the time of the 2011 census, 2.64% of the parish population were able to speak Manx Gaelic.

Rushen Internment Camp in World War Two

Rushen was repurposed as a detention camp during World War II, accommodating over 3,500 women and children. These internees, considered "enemy aliens," included many refugees who had previously fled persecution in Europe.

The camp, which operated from 30 May 1940 to September 1945, was the only civilian camp on the island which held women and children as civilian internees. Some of the detainees were lodged with local families, while others were housed in requisitioned boarding houses. The male detainees were held in Douglas.

References

External links

Manxnotebook - Rushen
with full description of the parish

Isle of Man Building Control Districts
showing parish boundaries

Great.Outdoors.com/ManxGlens Glenology - Manx Glens
An ongoing study of Manx glens, their locations and meanings.
Rushen Parish CommissionersGeoHive Census InformationConstituency maps and general election results

{{Isle of Man

Parishes of the Isle of Man
Constituencies of the Isle of Man