Forgotten traditional Manx crafts and skills showcased

Spinning and weaving were some of the skills overtaken by modern machinery

"Forgotten" traditional Manx skills and crafts have been showcased in a display in the west of the island.

The exhibition features craft items and tools, alongside the stories of the tradesmen behind them.

The items shine a light on the lives of "ordinary people living on the Isle of Man over a hundred years ago", Manx National Heritage said.

Assistant curator Nicola Tooms said it represented an "invaluable source" of information about a bygone era.

Manx stone wall building is one of the skills showcased

Ms Tooms said: "The objects associated with the island's craft workers were often beautiful in form, even though they were primarily concerned with practical use or function rather than aesthetics.

"Skills were passed from one generation to the next, often within the same family, resulting in several generations of craft workers who kept traditional patterns and forms in the objects they created."

Objects relating to traditional crafts on the island have been collected by the Manx Museum since 1922 and much of the accompanying information has been garnered from a Manx Folk-Life Survey, which was started in the 1940s.

Traditional trades and the stories of the people behind them feature in the display

As urbanisation increased in many areas, the skills of tradesmen like blacksmiths, thatchers, and wood turners had been abandoned and "their tools left to rot and rust", Ms Tooms said.

"However, here on the Isle of Man, we were fortunate that a dedicated group of Folk Life collectors undertook to record as much information as they could, including interviewing the older generations and saving the objects before they vanished forever," she added.

The Traders of the Lost Arts exhibition will be on display at the House of Manannan in Peel until September 2022.