Braddan

Formerly named Brandon, this parish includes the south of Douglas

The parish of Braddan (or Brandon - St Brandon was an abbot who died in the Isle of Arran in 1066) includes the southern part of Douglas, and stretches from the centre of the Bay to Port Soderick, and from the Crogga river to Pen-y-Phot and Colden.

It contains about 18 square miles.  It consists of two nearly detached portions; the northern one of which lies among the highest mountains of the central ridge, and includes the peaks of Pen-y-Phot, 1,772 feet; Carraghan,1,520 feet, and Colden, 1,599 feet.

The southern portion is a hilly district, and consists of the lower slopes of the hilly ridges which branch out from the southern mountains.  Its chief depressions are the Baldwin valleys in the north, the eastern portion of the central valley in the middle, and the Middle and the Crogga glens in the south.

The chief streams are the Glas, the main branch of the Douglas, rising on Injebreck Hill, and flowing down the West Baldwin Valley with its tributary, the Awin-ny-Darragh (the river of oaks), and the lower course of the Dhoo; and, in the south, Middle river, which falls into the Crogga river.

The uplands are barren, and in great part unenclosed mountain land, but there is a good deal of fertile and well cultivated land in the sheltered lowlands.  It was an agricultural district, and supplied the Douglas Markets.

The parts adjacent to the town of Douglas are thickly inhabited, and ornamented with numerous elegant villa residences; but the remoter parts of the parish are very sparsely inhabited.

The Crogga Glen and Port Soderick are favourite spots for summer tourists.  Baldwin, in the West Baldwin Valley, is a small village, beautifully situated as is Union Mills, a small village, prettily situated on the Dhoo.

Tromode, on the Glas, in past times was a manufacturing village, the inhabitants of which, were employed in the sail-cloth works of Messrs W F Moore & Son of Cronkbourne.

In this area:

• Braddan
• Colden
• Injebreck
• Millennium Oakwood