Greeba Bridge[1] is situated between the 6th milestone and 7th road milestones on the primary A1Douglas to Peel road and the junction with the Greeba Mill Road in the parish of Kirk German in the Isle of Man.
The A1 Greeba road bridge passes over the Greeba river, a tributary of the River Dhoo which flows eastward to the town of Douglas. [2] The Greeba river flows into the nearby Greeba Curragh or ‘Greeba Gap,’ a former pre-Ice Age river valley,[3] a low-lying watershed of the Douglas to Peel central valley. [4][5]
Description
The area of Greeba /griːɓə/ (Old Norse: gnípa ‘summit, top’ or kúpa ‘bowl, bowl formed valley’)[6] is located in the Central Valley of the Isle of Man.
The nearby area to Greeba Bridge is mainly farmland, located in the former Cronkdhoo Quarterland.[7] The vicinity is dominated by the nearby mountain land of Greeba Mountain (422m) and the Greeba or Kings forestry plantation, along with the nearby summits of Beary Mountain (311m) and Slieau Ruy (479m).[8]
Motor-sport heritage
The Greeba Bridge section of the A1 Douglas to Peel road was part of the short Highland Course (40.38 miles) from 1906 and the also the 37.50 Mile Four Inch Course used for car racing including the RAC Tourist Trophy car races held between 1905 and 1922.[9]
During the 1929Senior TT race, held in poor weather conditions and heavy rain, a number of competitors crashed on the narrow approach to Greeba Bridge.[12] This include the experienced motor-cycle racing competitor Doug Lamb, later dying from injuries suffered in the accident.[13]
^A Gazetteer of the Isle of Man page 132 Leslie Qulliam RBV The Manx Heritage Foundation - Eiraght Ashoonagh Vannin (2005) Quine and Cubbon Ltd ISBN0 951 4539 12
^ Evolution of the Natural Landscape Volume 1 The Holocene Page 311 edited by Richard Chiverrell, Dr. Geoff Thomas, John Belchem (2006) Liverpool University Press ISBN0-85323-587-2
^Isle of Man: Celebrating a Sense of Place page 93 Vaughan Robinson & Danny McCarroll Liverpool University Press (1990) ISBN0853232962
^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
^The Manx Experience. A Souvenir Guide to the Isle of Man. pageS 66-67 Gordon N. Kniverton 8th edition The Manx Experience (1987) Mannin Publishing Ltd
^The History of the Manx Grand Prix page 7, 8, 9 by Bill Snelling Amulree Publishing(1998) Manx Heritage Foundation ISBN1 901508 04 8