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***Malcolm*** · 28-01-2015, 04:48 PM

The mementoes left at the ‘real’ Fairy Bridge

Leaving gifts or messages for the Little People is a tradition that’s not much older than the 21st century.

People began to deposit things at the Fairy Bridge in Santon in the late 90s.

Until then, it was simply sensible to bid the mooinjey veggey a simple moghrey mie or fastyr mie as you went past.

Before Christmas the Manx Independent reported on a man who’d taken it upon himself to clear the clutter that had built up in Santon.

After all, some people’s treasured messages or keepsakes are other peoples litter and he got fed up with the site.

He is unlikely to like the photos on this page.

They show that the same phenomenon is happening at the ‘real’ Fairy Bridge.

The ‘real’ Fairy Bridge is over Middle River near Kewaigue.

If the stories are to believed, some bigwig reckoned moving the Fairy Bridge to a main road would be good for tourism, ignoring the Little People’s real home.

But the original bridge was never forgotten.

Walkers can access it via a footpath that links the main road that goes past Kewaigue School with the Old Castletown Road.

The ‘real’ bridge itself is secluded and picturesque.

But it’s not the lonely, undisturbed place it once was.

Next to it is a hole in the wall in which people have left dozens of furry toys.

The most disturbing is probably a rabbit in a Kilner jar. It’s very Fatal Attraction.

Sea shells have been stuffed between the stones in the walls. Under a pink umbrella is a place for the ‘fairies’ to rest – although many Manx people would never use the word ‘fairies’ to describe the Little People.

A few notes have also been left on trees nearby asking for help or positive intervention.

Some flowers have been left there and, more incongrously, there’s even a toy Tigger and a toy Father Christmas.

So is it charming or creepy?

We can only wonder at the verdict of the inhabitants of the bridge themselves.

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