Grid Reference: SC 4389 8439. At the north side of Laxey village, about 70 yards to the north of the junction of the A2 road and Ballaragh road, stands the largest prehistoric monument on the island known as King Orry’s Grave, a section of which is in a garden. The original name for the monument was apparently ‘Gretech Veg Cairn’. It is actually a chambered long barrow from 4,000 years ago in the Neolithic age. There is uncertainty as to just who King Orry was, and why this monument should be associated with him, but probably he was the legendary King Gorse or Gorred of Crevan, a Viking who died here in the 11th century AD. However, as we already know, the long barrow pre-dates King Orry by thousands of years.

The chambered long barrow with its single chamber at the top end is formed by two standing stones with a lintel slab that has now fallen. Here at the west end the cist burial would have been located beneath a cairn, but whether this long barrow ever had a mound over it we do not know for certain, so perhaps it would be safe to say that it did. There is a well preserved U-shaped forecourt that is 12 metres long and 4 feet wide, and is formed by 6 stone slabs, two of which are quite long. The eastern section of the monument has a second barrow with possibly two chambers, a forecourt and entrance, and a line of cists running roughly north-east to south-west.

But, unfortunately this section has a road running through it and has largely destroyed this part of the monument, its cairn of stones having been robbed away to be used in the building of the two cottages close by in 1868. The western section of the long barrow was originally in a private garden and had never been excavated but, in the 1990s, the cottage and garden were purchased by MNH (Manx National Heritage), allowing access for visitors to the main part of the site, which is some 30 feet in diameter; the whole site being over 170 feet in length.

The site was first excavated back in 1830 when the cist was uncovered and, more recently in 1953-4 when only one burial of unburnt bones was found along with a few grave goods, including a pottery bowl and some flints.

Source:-

The Manx Museum And National Trust: Fourth (Revised) Edition, The Ancient Monuments And Historic Monuments Of The Isle Of Man (A General Guide), Douglas, 1973.

Copyright © Ray Spencer, The Journal of Antiquities, 2012 (updated 2023).