People who come to the Isle of Man in June, need not necessarily imagine that the most important event on the Isle of Man is the Tourist Trophy races. It may be that, to many of them, that the most interesting matter about the island is its very wonderful history for its very interesting structure. These are matters of importance to the Race itself. Historically, the island has been occupied by two races, the Celts who have won all along the line, and the Scandinavians who occupied it round about the years 700-1200 A.D.
The English never conquered it, and never became anything more than a ruling class in the persons of the Stanley family who ruled it and kept a garrison there from 1405 to 1765, when its kingship was bought by the English government who also kept a garrison for some time but eventually were quite content just to appoint a Lieutenant Governor.
The Scandinavians left their form of government known as a Tynwald Court.
The Westminster Parliament has only very nominal powers on the island.
That is why the Tourist Trophy races are possible.
They would not be possible in Britain because they would have to be run on closed roads, and British roads may not be closed.
Beside giving the Island its Government, the Scandinavians in their time gave many places in the island, Scandinavian names. However, the Manx people are Celts and the greater number of place names are Celtic, and sound strange on English ears. There are many of these around the course that have become household words in the ears of motorcyclists.

The structure of the island is of interest in that it has made the course what it is.
The island is a mass of slate which was laid bare by the glaciers of the Ice Age.
The whole course lies on this solid mass of slate, starting across the island by a very wonderful central valley which runs from Douglas to Peel, then taking a run up one of its loveliest glens, Glen Rhenass (vulgarly known as Glen Helen) then circling the slate mountains as far as Ramsey and ending up on its highest mountain Snaefell. (scand; snow mountain)

Of the many thousands of enthusiasts who cross to the Island to see the thrills of the Tourist Trophy Races, the greatest number get no further than Douglas, which is understandable, though every visitor would be well advised to go out on the course to see the race from one or other of the vantage points which are suggested in the programme year by year.

This article proposes to take the visitor round the course, to point out matters of interest which may be found in almost every acre of this wonderful little Island Kingdom, for everybody should understand quite clearly that the Isle of Man is an independent kingdom which by fortunate accident happens to have the same monarch as Great Britain.

THE START -Starting from the present official start at the Grandstand, we note that the immediate area is the property of Douglas Corporation and the land is known as Nobles Park, for it was bought for the corporation out of the bounty of Henry Bloom Noble who as a young man of humble birth, started his working life in a timber yard of which he lived to become the owner, with a large fortune.
He also founded a very efficient hospital to which so many riders damaged in the races have owed the treatment that restored them to race again.

He also bequeathed the grounds on the promenade, now known as the Villa Marina in which the prize-giving has for many years taken place, and where his own house formerly stood. In gratitude he left these to the island as well as a large charitable and educational bequest.

BRAY HILL, one of the fastest parts of the course, was, when the races first started, a steep country lane hedged on both sides, narrow and rutted.

QUARTERBRIDGE, is where the course passes across the River Glass, and is a sharp right hand turn with the slope of the road all against the machines. The course passes from one ancient parish, of Onchan, into the ancient parish of Braddan. Quarterbridge is so-called because it was a boundary between the two quarterlands of Ballabrooie (Riverbank Farm) and Ballaquayle (Farm of the Quayle family). Manx farms were arranged in groups of four quarterlands, which made up a "treen", an arrangement of Celtic origin traceable right back to the time of St Patrick.
On the island there are seventeen parishes. The TT course traverses nine of them.

BRADDAN is the name of an irish saint. Here is situated one of the thrills of the course, Braddan Bridge which forces upon the riders a savage S-bend, which is commended by many as a good out-of-town vantage point.
It may be reached by a back road via the Peel Road, Pulrose and the Saddle Road. Incidentally the Saddle Road is so named from a large saddle-shaped stone built into the wall, almost certainly moved thither from the stone circle in the open-air service site. It was possibly either a stone of repentance or a "fertility" stone.
At Braddan is a private grandstand with an excellent view of the cornering and the broadcast comments on the race are heard here.

UNION MILLS, a mile further on, is the next good vantage point. Here is a much shallower S-bend, taken correspondingly faster and down hill. Union Mills is so-called from the presence of an idle tweed-cloth mill formerly worked by water power. The inside of the course affords the best view, and it can be reached via the Strang Road and Tromode from the bottom of Bray Hill.
From here there is a fast and straight run, at first through the parish of Marown (in Manx Ma Rown or Saint Rowan, a Scottish Saint). The road runs along the curious mid-island valley known as "The Plains of Heaven", a valley that divides the mountain mass of the Island into two unequal halves, a valley worn out by what in post-Glacial times must have been an enormous river, but which is now just a trickle known as the Dhoo (dark river) whose banks are very marshy, forming what are called "curraghs" (marshes). This portion of the course is very fast.

The village past Marown Church is known as CROSBY, a scandanavian word meaning the village with a cross. On the top of the hill is the Halfway House (halfway between Douglas and Peel) and on the descent of this hill, to the right, stands St. Trinians Church, a church that has been roofless for centuries. It was a small abbey built about 1230 on a piece of ground granted by King Olaf, as an oratory where prayers were offered for him and his family. Close by was a hostel for the use of travellers across the island. The Manx legend of the "Buggane of St.Trinians" ascribes the rooflessness to a huge "buggane" or giant who lived in Greeba mountain and who blew off the roof every time it was completed. The only thing that could prevent such a happening was for a tailor to sit in the chancel and make a pair of breeches. The local tailor volunteered to do this and indeed had almost completed his task, which was only short of one button when the thread gave out, and he hurried home to get a last hank. On his way back, the buggane returned and off went the roof once more, and the tailor was never seen again.
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