Ballaugh Bridge

Ballaugh Bridge[1] is located on the primary A3 Castletown to Ramsey road and adjacent to the road junctions with the A10 Ballaugh to Ramsey coast road and the tertiary C37 Ballaugh Glen Road in the parish of Ballaugh in the Isle of Man.

Ballaugh Bridge
Coordinates54°18′34.8″N 4°32′29.2″W
Builtc. 1739
Location of Ballaugh Bridge in Isle of Man

Description

Ballaugh Bridge is a hump-backed road bridge over the Ravensdale River,[2] located in the village of Ballaugh (Manx pronunciation: [ɓə'laf]) (Manx: balley-ny-logh(ey) – farm, place of/by the lough).[3]

Motor-sport heritage
A3 Castletown to Ramsey Road at Ballaugh Bridge with the C37 Ballaugh Glen Road and the A10 Ballaugh Station Road

Ballaugh Bridge was part of the 52.15 mile Highland Course (amended to 40.38 miles in 1906[4]) and the 37.50 Mile Four Inch Course used for automobile racing including the 1904 Gordon Bennett Trial and the RAC Tourist Trophy car races held between 1905 and 1922.[5]

It was also the western edge of the Sandygate Loop for the 1904 Gordon Bennett British Eliminating Trial and the 1905 Tourist Trophy Race for automobiles. The 1906 Tourist Trophy Race used the Short Highroads Course, with the abandonment of the Sandygate Loop in favour of the A3 Castletown to Ramsey Road from Ballacraine corner to Ramsey.

In 1911, the Four Inch Course for automobiles was first used by the Auto-Cycling Union for the Isle of Man TT motor-cycle races. This included Ballaugh Bridge[6] and the course later became known as the 37.73 mile Isle of Man TT Mountain Course which has been used since 1911 for the Isle of Man TT Races and from 1923 for the Manx Grand Prix races.[7]

Road improvements

The Bridge was subject to road widening and reprofiling during the winter of 1953/1954 for the 1954 Isle of Man TT races including the removal of a garden wall[8] of the adjacent Ballaugh Railway Hotel (now the Raven Hotel).[9] Ballaugh Bridge is the only remaining hump-backed bridge on the TT Course after the removal of Sulby Bridge in the 1920s and Ballig Bridge in 1935.[10]

Roadside memorial

Located near to Ballaugh Bridge is a road-side memorial to Karl Gall, a member of the pre-war works BMW motor-cycle team[11] who died from injuries suffered after crashing near to the bridge during evening practice for the 1939 Isle of Man TT races.[12][13]

  • Herve Gantner wearing a rookie orange high-visibility vest jumping from Ballaugh Bridge in 2010

Sources
  1. Daily Express page 58 Monday 2 June 2008
  2. Brown’s Directory for the Isle of Man page 452 BALLAUGH Brown & Sons (1894) The Isle of Man Times Press
  3. Place Names of The Isle of Man – Da Ny Manninee Dooie Volume Two. Sheading of Michael: (Kirk Michael, Ballaugh and Jurby) page 126 & 127 Ballaugh by George Broderick – Türbingen; Niemeyer NE:HST (1995) Manx Place- Name Survey, Max Niemeyer Verlag Tubingen ISBN 3-484-40138-9 (Gesamtwerk) 3-484-40130-3 (Band 2) Druck und Eiband: Weihert-Druck GmbH Darmstadt. "Village ct SC39SW.")
  4. TT Pioneers – Early Car Racing in the Isle of Man page 22 Robert Kelly, Mercury Asset Management (1996) (1st Edition) The Manx Experience, The Alden Press ISBN No 1 873120 61 3
  5. Isle of Man Car Races 1904–1953 page 30 by Neil Hanson (2015) Lily Publications ISBN 978-1-907945-36-6
  6. TT Special page 24 THE T.T. MOUNTAIN COURSE edited by G.S. Davison Wednesday 14 June 1961 “(7) Ballaugh Bridge”
  7. The History of the Manx Grand Prix page 7, 8, 9 by Bill Snelling Amulree Publishing(1998) Manx Heritage Foundation ISBN 1 901508 04 8
  8. Isle of Man Examiner page 6 Friday 24 May 1954
  9. Isle of Man Times page 6 Saturday 29 May 1954 “Ballaugh Bridge has been greatly modified.”
  10. Isle of Man Weekly Times dated 25 May 1935
  11. The Tourist Trophy in Old Photographs Collected by Bill Snelling. Page 58 1st Edition (1994) Sutton Publishing ISBN 1-84015-059-9
  12. Isle of Man Times page 17 Saturday 10 June 1939
  13. Daily Express page 1 Wednesday 14 June 1939
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