A Tour of Onchan 2
Round The Edges.

Strathallan Park

Before proceeding with the tour of the next few roads and houses it is important to tell of the history of Onchan’s first planned development of the mid nineteenth century.

In 1851 three bachelor brothers, William Henry Cubbin, Moore Thomas Cubbin and Richard Cubbin, sons of Captain Thomas Cubbin, purchased three fields amounting to around 13 acres on the south side of the road to Onchan Village. The land had at one time belonged to the Duke of Athol but had subsequently passed to James Holmes of Holmes Bank in Douglas.

The brothers engaged an architect, George Raby who had come to the island from Birkenhead in 1849 and set up his office in the Oddfellows Hall (later the Douglas Court House) in Athol Street. The land was marked out, roadways roughly constructed and plots put up for sale at one shilling and eight pence per square yard. An advertisement was placed in the local press which claimed “it possesses a delightful view of the neighbourhood and is free from the smoke of the town”. Of the original layout the following roads still remain, Summerhill Road, Strathallan Road and Ridgeway Road. There were two other roads laid out running top and bottom side of what is now Strathallan Hall Cottage but they disappeared when the land around them was sold in 1883.

Larger Image Strathallan Park as seen from the 1896 Ordnance Survey. On the left is Summerhill Road with Strathallan Road on the bottom and Ridgeway Road on the top falling to the right to meet it.

The Cubbins had little success in selling the plots as it was too remote from Douglas and there was no proper road along the shore in any event. So they had a mixture of houses built in an effort to “prime the pump” and hopefully encourage others to buy plots in this location.

88 – 100 Summerhill Road (Strathallan Terrace)

The second plot to be sold off on the Strathallan Park development was in the top corner nearest to Onchan Village and this took place in 1857. The purchaser was James Hill a builder from Onchan and it was the land now occupied by Nos 98 and 100 Summerhill Road. James Hill had built a detached dwelling for himself by 1860 when he took out a loan and gave the plot and house as security.

This was what is now 100 Summerhill Road and was called Holly Bank. It stood as a detached house for over 20 years. The land on the village side of the house formed a twenty foot wide strip which was sold with Holly Bank by Mr Hill’s widow Ann to W.F. Dickinson the advocate in 1880. Four years later he sold the plot of land to Robert Skillicorn but retained the house which he rented out. Robert Skillicorn built a house here on the end of the terrace of houses which for many years was called Strathallan Terrace.

Holly Bank in the foreground with Strathallan Terrace alongside running up Summerhill Road.

It is hard now for the passer-by to imagine Holly Bank standing as a detached house but at least the two and a half decades that separate its construction from its neighbours shows up in the differing architectural style.

The house was occupied for 16 years from 1899 by Mr Harrison the photographer who in 1900 erected his studio which was like a lean-to greenhouse alongside the south facing wall which separated its rear garden from that of number 98. In this position the maximum possible amount of light was obtained to avoid having to use expensive flash. The remnants of the studio were removed when the property was converted into flats in 1970 and garages were built in the yard.

Onto Ridgeway Road