Greeba Bridge

Greeba Bridge [1] is situated between the 6th milestone and 7th road milestones on the primary A1 Douglas to Peel road and the junction with the Greeba Mill Road in the parish of Kirk German in the Isle of Man.

Greeba Bridge
Coordinates54°11′48.5″N 4°36′20.9″W
Greeba Bridge is located in Isle of Man
Greeba Bridge
Location of Greeba Bridge in Isle of Man

The A1 Greeba road bridge passes over the Greeba river, a tributary of the River Dhoo which flows eastward to the town of Douglas. [2] The Greeba river flows into the nearby Greeba Curragh or ‘Greeba Gap,’ a former pre-Ice Age river valley,[3] a low-lying watershed of the Douglas to Peel central valley. [4][5]

Description

The area of Greeba /griːɓə/ (Old Norse: gnípa ‘summit, top’ or kúpa ‘bowl, bowl formed valley’)[6] is located in the Central Valley of the Isle of Man.

The nearby area to Greeba Bridge is mainly farmland, located in the former Cronkdhoo Quarterland.[7] The vicinity is dominated by the nearby mountain land of Greeba Mountain (422m) and the Greeba or Kings forestry plantation, along with the nearby summits of Beary Mountain (311m) and Slieau Ruy (479m).[8]

Motor-sport heritage

The Greeba Bridge section of the A1 Douglas to Peel road was part of the short Highland Course (40.38 miles) from 1906 and the also the 37.50 Mile Four Inch Course used for car racing including the RAC Tourist Trophy car races held between 1905 and 1922.[9]

In 1911, the Four Inch Course was first used by the Auto-Cycling Union for the Isle of Man TT motorcycle races. [10] This included the Greeba Bridge section and the course later became known as the 37.73 mile Isle of Man TT Mountain Course which has been used since 1911 for the Isle of Man TT Races and from 1923 for the Manx Grand Prix races.[11]

During the 1929 Senior TT race, held in poor weather conditions and heavy rain, a number of competitors crashed on the narrow approach to Greeba Bridge.[12] This include the experienced motor-cycle racing competitor Doug Lamb, later dying from injuries suffered in the accident.[13]

Sources
  1. Daily Express page 8 Saturday 16 June 1923
  2. HM Ordnance Survey Landranger (1992) Sheet 95 ISLE OF MAN. Scale 1:50,000
  3. A Gazetteer of the Isle of Man page 132 Leslie Qulliam RBV The Manx Heritage Foundation - Eiraght Ashoonagh Vannin (2005) Quine and Cubbon Ltd ISBN 0 951 4539 12
  4. Evolution of the Natural Landscape Volume 1 The Holocene Page 311 edited by Richard Chiverrell, Dr. Geoff Thomas, John Belchem (2006) Liverpool University Press ISBN 0-85323-587-2
  5. Isle of Man: Celebrating a Sense of Place page 93 Vaughan Robinson & Danny McCarroll Liverpool University Press (1990) ISBN 0853232962
  6. Place Names of The Isle of Man – Da Ny Manninee Dooie Vol.1. Sheading of Glenfaba (Kirk Patrick, Kirk German, and Peel) page 253-255 Kirk German by George Broderick (1999) Manx Place- Name Survey, © Max Niemeyer Verlag GmbH & Co. KG Tübingen 1994 ISBN 3-484-40138-9 (Gesamtwerk) 3-484-40129-x (band 1) Druck und Einband: Das Weihert-Druck GmbH Darmstadt “....Gnebe (Greeba) TR ”
  7. Plans: Parish of German General Registry: Isle of Man Courts of Justice. Plan No. 13 Scale 1:23 Originals coloured (decorative)
  8. HM Ordnance Survey Landranger (1992) Sheet 95 ISLE OF MAN. Scale 1:50,000
  9. TT Pioneers – Early Car Racing in the Isle of Man page 22 Robert Kelly, Mercury Asset Management (1996)(1st Edition) The Manx Experience, The Alden Press ISBN No 1 873120 61 3
  10. The Manx Experience. A Souvenir Guide to the Isle of Man. pageS 66-67 Gordon N. Kniverton 8th edition The Manx Experience (1987) Mannin Publishing Ltd
  11. The History of the Manx Grand Prix page 7, 8, 9 by Bill Snelling Amulree Publishing(1998) Manx Heritage Foundation ISBN 1 901508 04 8
  12. The Guardian Page 11 Saturday 15 June 1929
  13. Isle of Man Examiner page 2 SENIOR T.T. FATALITY Friday 21 June 1929
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