Port Erin
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Port Erin (Manx: Purt Chiarn) is a town in the south of the Isle of Man. Its population is 3,369 according to the 2001 census. The name means either Lord's Port or Iron Port.
It is a friendly seaside resort with a harbour. The harbour is home to a University of Liverpool Marine biology department and the remains of a breakwater, destroyed by a storm in 1884. The Marine Biology lab, however, was closed down in 2006 due to funding issues and the building's future is as yet undecided.
The beach is sandy and sheltered by two headlands. One, Bradda Head, displays a folly - Milner's Tower. The promenade, which is somewhat higher than the seafront, primarily consists of hotels - mostly built in the Victorian era, although due to decreasing numbers of tourists, many of these are being converted into flats and apartments. The town is famed for its views including spectacular sunsets over Port Erin Bay and Bradda Head as well as frequent glimpses of the Mourne Mountains in Northern Ireland in the distance.
The town is home to an arts centre, the Erin Arts Centre, which hosts the biggest international viola competition in the world and runs over 200 events a year, and a railway museum. The museum is attached to the Port Erin railway station, the western terminus of the Isle of Man steam railway.
The outer breakwater, visible at low tide only, was an abandoned project constructed in 1863 using the Port Erin Breakwater Railway and saw the first steam locomotive used on the island; a severe storm later destroyed the breakwater and it was never rebuilt. Today, a marker buoy shows the extent of the breakwater and the land end is still clearly discernible.
One of the more famous residents in recent years was racing driver Nigel Mansell.
The 2006 film Stormbreaker was filmed on Port Erin beach.
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