A Tour of Onchan 2
Round The Edges.

Further Along Summerhill Road

20 – 22 Summerhill Road (Summerhill Mews)

Beneath the modern wall finishes lie two cottages dating from the mid 1840s. The upper property was for many years Dennett’s grocery shop although the property was held in a charitable trust to provide funds for the poor of Onchan via the Vicar and wardens of St Peter’s.

When the two buildings were sold off the proceeds were used towards the provision of housing at Meadow Close, Onchan by DHSS to whom the property had passed when the trust was dissolved. The Summerhill Mews name only dates from the late 1980s when the property was owned by the Kniveton family.

24 Summerhill Road

The site for this house was sold by John Banks of the Howstrake in 1840 and the property was erected shortly afterwards having a garden to the rear and side where a garage was erected which was later replaced by a shop and workshop in 1973 for Electrofreeze. Later this was used as an upholster’s. The house itself was extended at the rear in 1914 and then there were a series of minor alterations between 1973 and 1981 including the installation of the dinky bow windows on the ground floor elevation at the front.

26 Summerhill Road

The large window in the front of the property is a clue to the fact that it was at one time a shop although originally built as one half of a pair of dwellings in 1844. The shop was that of Mr Kissack the baker whose bake house was firstly in the basement and then a building at the rear. The lower of the pair of houses had a garage and conservatory erected in 1971 and when these works took place the opening from one of the ovens of next door’s bakery showed up in the stone wall of the extension.

Looking up Summerhill Road. On the right we see one of the bakers standing by the roadside with hens around his feet. The cottages behind him are still in existence but have changed appearance a little. On the left is the chapel hidden behind bushes and in the centre of the picture are the fronts of Ballachurry Cottages and Woodside Terrace behind them.

Onto Alberta Drive