‘Detached intack farms in the Manx uplands – from enclosure to abandonment

Chris Callow

The Nunnery, 6pm-7pm, Wednesday 24th April

By the early Sixteenth-Century the majority of farmland on the Isle of Man was divided into defined units, many of which are extant today.

With population pressure, climate change and improvements in agriculture, parcels of upland were enclosed by a process known as ‘intacking’. Most intacks were added to existing farms, but some independent holdings were carved out of the King’s Forest to become the homes of long-established families.

Looking at three examples in the upper Sulby valley, this talk will examine the distinctiveness of such holdings and the status of the families that farmed them.