inscribed and dated "From Greeba Mountain Isle of Man Sep 1873" and further signed with initials "LWT"
Tom and Laura Taylor and thence by descent
Greeba Mountain is not technically speaking a mountain as it doesn’t reach the giddy heights of 600 metres. In fact, it falls well short at 422 metres and is the peak you can see above the plantation, looking rather apologetic.
The name Greeba is derived from the Scandinavian word "Gnipa" meaning "peak". This 56 hectare plantation lies on the south east slopes of Greeba Mountain. The greater part was planted in 1890 and the remainder the following year. Work was carried out by local labour employed by the Crown. Most of the plants had been raised in Barrule Nursery. During the Second World War most of this plantation was clearfelled and then replanted in 1940 and 1951. The main species now grown here are Sitka Spruce, Japanese Larch, Scots Pine and European Larch. Approximately 7 hectares were transferred to grazing in 1980 in conjunction with the afforestation at Glion Gill.
The castle is situated in the parish of German (but close to the boundary with Marown) on the main A1 Peel Road in the Isle of Man. It is about 1 km east of the hamlet of Greeba and 3 km east of the village of St Johns.
The castle is situated where the main road crosses the watershed between the east and west of the island. The former Douglas to Peel railway line runs parallel to the main road. The surrounding area is mainly farmland, including the Greeba River and the former Greeba Curragh with the nearby summits of Greeba Mountain (422 m) and Slieau Ruy (479 m). Also nearby are the ruins of St Trinian's Chapel.
At the base of Greeba Mountain and the Kings Forest, or Greeba Plantation, there are two Victorian castellated residences built in 1849 in an elevated position in the Gothic style, on the site of a property that had been known as Booilrenny (perhaps boayl rennee, "place of the fern"). These houses, Greeba Towers and Greeba Castle, were designed by John Robinson of Douglas, a self-taught architect who designed many properties in the town of Douglas including the Bank of Mona (now the Tynwald Building), the Falcon Cliff, Douglas Head Hotel and the Derby Castle, all in a castellated style with Gothic influence.[2][full citation needed] The house was originally built for William Nowell, but it was later bought by Edward Windus, the son of a partner of the publisher, Chatto & Windus.The Victorian novelist Hall Caine moved to the Isle of Man in 1894 and rented Greeba Castle for a six-month period before residing briefly in Peel. Caine bought the house, in a poor state of repair, in 1896. He lived there until his death in 1931, and it was partly remodelled during that time.
According to a folk tale, the owner of Greeba Castle lost the property in a game of cards but built Greeba Towers in front of his former property to block the view of the new owner. Greeba Castle was at one time used as a school.
The castle is between the 5th and 6th milestone roadside markers on the Snaefell Mountain Course used for the Isle of Man TT and Manx Grand Prix races. It was part of the Four Inch Course used for the Tourist Trophy car races between 1905 and 1922, and was part of the course used for 1905 International Motor Cycle Cup races.
Laura Wilson Barker (6 March 1819 – 22 May 1905), was a composer, performer and artist, sometimes also referred to as Laura Barker, Laura W Taylor or "Mrs Tom Taylor".
She was born in Thirkleby, North Yorkshire, third daughter of a clergyman, the Rev. Thomas Barker. She studied privately with Cipriani Potter and became an accomplished pianist and violinist. As a young girl Barker performed with both Louis Spohr and Paganini. She began composing in the mid-1830s - her Seven Romances for voice and guitar were published in 1837. From around 1843 until 1855 she taught music at York School for the Blind. During this period some of her compositions - including a symphony in manuscript, on 19 April 1845 - were performed at York Choral Society concerts.
On 19 June 1855 she married the English dramatist, critic, biographer, public servant, and editor of Punch magazine Tom Taylor. Barker contributed music to at least one of her husband's plays, an overture and entr'acte to Joan of Arc (1871), and provided harmonisations as an appendix to his translation of Ballads and Songs of Brittany (1865).
Her other works include the cantata Enone (1850), the violin sonata A Country Walk (1860), theatre music for As You Like It, (April 1880), Songs of Youth (1884), string quartets, madrigals and solo songs. Her choral setting of Keats's A Prophecy, composed in 1850, was performed for the first time 49 years later at the Hovingham Festival in 1899. The composer was present.
Several of Barker's paintings hang at Smallhythe Place in Kent, Ellen Terry's house.
Barker lived with her husband and family at 84 Lavender Sweep, Battersea. There were two children: the artist John Wycliffe Taylor (1859–1925), and Laura Lucy Arnold Taylor (1863–1940). The Sunday musical soirees at the house attracted many well-known attendees, including Lewis Carroll, Charles Dickens, Henry Irving, Charles Reade, Alfred Tennyson, Ellen Terry and William Makepeace Thackeray.
Tom Taylor died suddenly at his home in 1880 at the age of 62. After his death, his widow retired to Porch House, Coleshill in Buckinghamshire, where she died on 22 May 1905, aged 86.