B1 (Isle of Man)

This article is about the current B1.
For the original B1, now A15, see B1 (Port e Vullen - The Hibernian).

The B1 serves the small village of Laxey, dipping down the steep slopes of the valley and meeting the A2 at either end.

The southern end of the B1

The route starts on the A2 at the southern end of Laxey Village at a sharp fork and immediately starts to descend Old Laxey Hill. It then crosses the Electric Railway at a level crossing, bringing the road right to the top of the cliff, with views across the bay far below. As the road steepens, it also narrows, and despite double yellow lines, can be further restricted by parked cars. A couple of properties cling improbably to the top of the cliff on the shoreside of the road before it curves round to the left with houses on both sides now. The road gets narrower again as it turns round a blind right hander, and then the one-way B51, Shore Road, comes in from the left, quickly followed by its pair, the B60, Tent Road.

This is now the heart of Old Laxey, with lots of brightly painted old terraced houses, and the route crosses the Laxey River on an old stone bridge next to the Hotel. On the north side, the road turns left onto Glen Road to follow the river upstream, but this is the B58 and the B1 TOTSOs left to climb Minorca Hill. The hill quickly steepens as it climb, and while it remains narrow, there is at least a centre line again. A couple of old chapels stand amongst the houses before the road passes under the railway. It then turs hard to the left, trying to ease the climb, before curving more easily back to the right to end at a crossroads back on the A2, with the B11 continuing ahead.

History

As originally numbered in the 1920's, this route appears to have formed part of the B20. It had been renumbered as the B1 by 1963.