Eclectic Douglas #6 - Douglas, Isle of Man - Lucky 7 on Waymarking.com

A Lucky 7 of 9 different Waymarks, with a tally of 18, loosely based in and around Duke Street and Lord Street in Douglas.

The following is an extract from the information shown on the Duke Street (Straid Duke) / Lord Street (Straid y Chairn) 'You Are Here' Map which can be found on Duke Street at its junction with Lord Street.

"Duke Street
Straid Duke
Lord Street
Straid y Chairn

< p> The maze of streets leading down to the quay once housed the many harbourside inns that surrounded the market place. Much of the area was cleared in the 1930s but some streets, many with distinctive names, still survive.

The earliest street name in Douglas, Muckles Gate, which joins this section of Lord Street that leads to the Sea Terminal, dates from 1787 when it was mentioned in a property sale. Once home to a number of lodging houses but now little more than a service lane, Muckles Gate is said to have derived from the Norse Mikill Gata, the Great Road. Another rather more fanciful, theory is the name comes from one Muckle Ralph, a Scot and cooper by trade and said to have been seven feet tall. His surname was unknown, but he was given the name 'Muckle' ('big' in Scottish dialect) because of his stature. Separately, the name Mcylwrath appears in property deeds and transactions from the mid-1700s.

Duke Street, which has its junction with Lord Street, is named after John the Duke of Athol and is one of the earliest thoroughfares in the town, providing access to the market place for the farmers from Onchan and Lonan and was once the main shopping centre in Douglas before retail activity in Strand Street took hold in the late 1800s.

Lord Street was once a narrow thoroughfare extending from the Church Street to Duke Street junctions and served as the main route from the west of Douglas to the market place. It was widened during the demolition works in the 1890s and after the clearances in the 1930s the street was extended and widened towards the Sea Terminal end.

Chapel Row, which leads off Market Hill, is one of the few streets that survived the clearance schemes of the 1930s to rid the harbourside area of squalid properties. The 'Chapel' referred to in the name was St. Matthew's, which stood in the market place and was built in 1708. The chapel was replaced by St. Matthew's church in the late 1800s and consecrated in 1908 on the 200th anniversary of the original chapel. Regeneration of Douglas continues to this day with a major upgrade programme for the town centre under way, while in nearby Cambrian Place a multi-million pound redevelopment scheme is proposed."