RED: Original purchase, 1761
PURPLE: Initial disposal by Robert Quine 1761
BLUE: Intack acquired 1770's by Robert Quine & his eldest son Robert
GENERATION 2 - ROBERT QUINE, who bought ARDERRY and his wife MARGARET CLAGUE
Turning to our ancestor Robert Quine, who was to be the first of our branch of the Quine family to live at Arderry, we know that he was familiar with the Hilberry area of Onchan, where his father Thomas died. In 1743 Robert’s widowed mother Alice married again, and moved to live in Lonan with her new husband John Cottier and his daughters. Robert may have stayed behind on the croft, as he was at least 21 years old and perhaps older. On 22 November 1744 he married at Lonan parish church, his wife Margaret Clague belonging to a long established family farming at Ballavarrane, near the old church. One of Margaret’s relations, writing later in the century described the Clagues as ‘an old standard there time out of mind’. As a quarterland-holder’s daughter, Margaret was taking a step down the social ladder in marrying the son of a landless man - but there is evidence suggesting Robert Quine had a trade and had saved some capital. It also appears that Margaret was expecting their first child at the time of the marriage. On 13th August 1745 Thomas Quay and his wife Elizabeth mortgaged a quarter of their farm of Ballachrink, in Onchan, to a Robert Quine, also of Onchan, a weaver, for £12. The deed of mortgage was witnessed by Patrick Quine and Thomas Lewin. This arrangement involved Robert lending his capital to the Quays in return for the right to occupy part of their farm for five years. There is a strong possibility that the lender was our ancestor Robert. It was certainly our Robert of Onchan who joined with his brother Philip Quine of Lonan in 1753 to lend £64 to Robert Lewn (Lewin) of Ballacritch (Ballachreetch) in Onchan. The loan was secured on a part of Lewn’s property of ‘Ballagaragher’ (Ballafargher) and they were to have ‘only what the said Robert Quine has had in his posession since Michaelmass last was twelve months by virtue of a bill of setting’. We know therefore that Robert was farming part of Ballafargher (now Glenville) from at least September 1752. Robert and Margaret Quine’s oldest children were baptised at Onchan old parish church (this stood in the churchyard of the later, present church).
18 January 1745 Robert
19 August 1748 Judy
19 February 1752 Margaret
In 1761 an arrangement was reached whereby Thomas Quine of Arderry swapped farms with Robert Quine. Our quine family moved out from Ballafargher on buying Arderry, and Thomas of Arderry bought Ballafargher from Robert’s landlord.
The manner in which Robert Quine financed the purchase of Arderry is of interest.
1. We know that Robert had been lending money to landowners on mortgage. It seems likely that these loans would have been called in to finance his own purchase. Some £40 had been repaid by Robert Lewin of Ballachreetch in 1758.
2. Under the deed of purchase, £120 was to be paid on 24th June 1761, and £120 on 1st November 1761
3. On 24th March 1761, while he was still living ‘on the lands of Ballachreetch’ Robert re-sold the outer or northern quarter of Arderry adjoining the parish boundary. This sale realised £68, and was made to William Cannell of Ballawillyn in Baldwin.
4. An acknowledgement was lodged at some date in the Diocesan Ragistry, by which Robert Quine of Onchan undertook once more to pay to Thomas Quine of Braddan the purchase moneys in two installments. This document was endorsed ‘£55:14:4’ but the significance of this has not been discovered.
5. It should be recalled that the intack lands lying on the east or up-hill side of the farm were not then part of the property, and were not acquired by Robert Quine until later.
Although Arderry is in the civil parish of Onchan, for ecclesiastical purposes it was in Braddan. After moving to Arderry, Robert and Margaret Quine took their children to Kirk Braddan for baptism.
7 June 1761 John
1 September 1765 Ann
11 December 1768 Thomas
No baptismal entry has been found for Mary Quine
| RIGHT: Key plan to Arderry RED: Original purchase, 1761 PURPLE: Initial disposal by Robert Quine 1761 BLUE: Intack acquired 1770's by Robert Quine & his eldest son Robert |
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We know nothing definite of the ‘dwelling house and garden with all the the rest of our outhouses and all other appurtenances’ at Arderry which passed on the 1761 sale, but it is very likely that one of the outbuildings still survives in a ruined state. This was known as the Tithe Barn, and was a thatched, single storey structure, built with large slate boulders and earth mortar. The roof was thatched, the tie stones projecting from the gables and walls. The barn was probably used to stoire the tithes payable to the owners of the Nunnery Estate. The remains of the barn were photographed in 1976, but after falling into a dangerous condition, they have since been reduced to rubble.
The Arderry tops, lying between the Quarterland proper and the mountain lands never belonged to Thomas Quine of the original Arderry family, and consequently were not included in Robert’s purchase in 1761. The northern portion of these Slieau Ree tops were enclosed by the Chreetch and Cannon families during the 1730’s. These parties sold on to the Quines in 1773 and 1774 for £2 5s 6d. The southernmost section of the tops, south of ‘Arderry Gate’ was enclosed by the owners of what became ‘Ohio’. As a result, the massive medieval ‘Fell Dike’ or hedge remains intact for a short distance where it still forms a property boundary.
"The Deemster's Cairn" above Arderry
The tops are enclosed by a fine drystone wall probably erected for the Quines in the 1770’s. One well-known feature is the Deemster’s Cairn , the outline of a man formed in the grey slate wall by white quartz boulders. This is said to replace a rough cairn built by Baldwin folk over the grave of a Deemster. He perished in a snowstorm ‘sometime in sixteen hundred’ when he strayed from the ancient Ammell Road nearby on the mountain. A rough outline of a horse in similar style, and possibly the three legs of Man can also be made out nearby. Margaret died in 1779, leaving her last will and testament under which her second son John Quine would become entitled to half of Arderry. Robert Quine died in 1789, also leaving a will. Both are buried at Old Kirk Braddan.