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Tour of Onchan 1
Straight down the middle.
Government House
The Lieutenant Governors of the Isle of Man have resided here since Henry Brougham Loch in 1863 yet the house hasn’t always belonged to government. The original title of the house and estate is Bemahague and was in the ownership of the Christian family from around 1600 until 1789 when Edward Christian sold the estate of “Bemahague” to Robert Heywood for £1,000. In doing so he retained the mansion house, other houses and the outbuildings but upon his death less than a year later those buildings were sold to Heywood for a further £720.
Robert Heywood was an uncle to young Peter Heywood the midshipman on HMS Bounty and lived in the adjoining Glencrutchery House which was in Onchan until the 1950s when there was a Douglas boundary extension. His son, Deemster John Joseph Heywood eventually resided in Bemahague but ironically it was during times that the property was rented to others that it was altered, extended and improved.
When Joshua Farrer was the tenant he rebuilt the south-east wing of the house with a full height bay to give the property a true Regency look facing towards the sea.
Upon Deemster Heywood’s death the property passed to his daughter Elizabeth Daly and then to her son via trustees and it was from them a lease was taken out to provide a home for Governor Loch. In 1871 Tynwald passed an act confirming a 21-year lease of the premises at £200 per annum. The Daly family however were to contribute £1,000 towards making the house more suitable as a Governor’s residence. In February of that year the Liverpool architect Gustavus Hamilton was engaged to produce plans for the addition of a first floor over the south-east wing and a dining room to be added to the east end. |
Bemahague in Regency times from an old print |
Other and later alterations were designed by James Cowle the local architect/builder who was responsible for adding a billiard room and a new kitchen. The architectural partnership of Willink and Thicknesse of Liverpool (one of the partners was educated at King Williams College) was engaged in 1903 when government purchased the property from the Daly family. They “greatly improved” the house including a new hall, porch, staircase, intercommunicating rooms as well as removing some of the old farm buildings from the immediate vicinity of the house.
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Government House shortly after the extensions of 1903 - 05 were complete. This rather bland building has since been spar dashed which does nothing to improve it externally. |
| The lodge is a later building designed by Major Harry Cowle in 1921. For many years there were tall gate pillars and iron gates from the same period but the entrance was regarded as too narrow for modern day traffic and the pillars were removed to facilitate Sir Ronald Garvey’s Jaguar. Successive Lieutenant Governors have considered ways of improving the appearance of the entrance but todate nothing has been attempted. | |
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