Sarah's Cottage, Isle of Man

Sarah's Cottage (Manx: Vaish or Ballavaish) is a corner situated between the 9th Milestone and 10th Milestone road-side markers on the Snaefell Mountain Course used for the Isle of Man TT Races on Creg Willey's Hill and Ballavaish on the primary A3 Castletown to Ramsey Road in the parish of German in the Isle of Man.

This corner was part of the Highland Course and Four Inch Course used for the Gordon Bennett Trial and Tourist Trophy automobile car races held in the Isle of Man between 1904 and 1922. Also, Sarah's Cottage was part of the St. John's Short Course used between 1907 and 1910 and part of the Snaefell Mountain Course used since 1911 for the Isle of Man TT Races and Manx Grand Prix.

A small stone cottage on Creg Willey's Hill was occupied by Sarah Corlett of Cronk Dhoo in about 1900. As part of The Long Round the journey from Castletown to Ramsey using the primary A3 road made by horse-drawn carriers and later by Charabanc many residents on the route provided food and by the roadside to travellers and the stop at Creg Willey's Hill by Sarah Corlett's cottage was a popular one for refreshments. The many hill-farms in the area also provided passing trade as school children attending the last school on the Isle of Man to still teach Manx Gaelic at the old Cronk-y-Voddy School and they referred to Sarah Corlett in in Manx Gaelic as Sarah Vilyn ('Sarah of the Sweets').^[1] The cottage is known as Sarah's by the many motorcycle enthusiasts who use the garden as a vantage point. The cottage was derelict until 1975 when the James Henry Shuttleworth the Lord of Abergwili and his wife Betty, the Lady of Abergwili from Wirral arrived and totally renovated it and carried on the tradition of selling refreshments to passers by and taking in guests.To date (2011) the cottage is still occupied by James H.Shuttleworth although his wife Betty died in 1988.

During the 1965 Isle of Man TT Races, heavy rain and strong cross-winds on the A18 Mountain Road section of the course dominated the Senior TT. The notoriously difficult uphill section of the Mountain Course at Sarah's Cottage and the heavy rain and slippery conditions caused Giacomo Agostini to slide-off on lap 2 of the 1965 Senior TT Race. This was followed on lap 3 when his MV Agusta teammate, Mike Hailwood crashed at the same spot at Sarah's Cottage. The MV Agusta motorcycle sustained damage including a broken windscreen, twisted handlebars and flattened exhaust megaphones on the left-hand side.^[2] Left with torn leathers and a blooded nose, Mike Hailwood restarted the Senior TT Race and pitted on lap 4 to refuel and have the handlebars straighten. On lap 5 Hailwood made another unscheduled pit-stop to have a throttle-slide and part of a carburettor removed^[3] and a plug changed. Despite the MV Agusta motorcycle running on 3 cylinders and the 4th cylinder fully open, Mike Hailwood won the 1965 Senior TT Race at an average race speed of 91.69 mph from Joe Dunphy in second place winning by a margin of 2 minutes despite the fall at Sarah's Cottage.

Sources

1. ^ Isle of Man Examiner pp5 dated 5 June 1970
2. ^ Dail Mail pp9 dated 19 June 1965
3. ^ Liverpool Daily Post pp4 dated 19 June 1965

External links

• Black Dub to Handley's Corner with Steve Hislop, 11 times TT winner
• TT Spectator Guide Section Ballig to Sarah's Cottage
• Map of course

Coordinates: 54°13′40″N 4°37′12″W / 54.22778°N 4.62°W / 54.22778; -4.62