Milntown house can be found on the western approaches to the town of Ramsey.
Records show that the Christian Family lived a Milntown at least the early 16th century and parts of the house date from that period.
During the seventeenth century the house underwent extensive alterations and a number of additions were made. After this period the Christians moved to Cumberland and let the house out to tenants. Finally in 1830 Deemster John Christian returned to live in Milntown after having the mansion house redesigned, much of which still survives.
Following the death of William Bell Christian in 1886, the house was run first as a private school by his widow, Vio, and their two daughters, Rita and May; and then as a hotel. It reverted to being a family home when Charles Peel Yates (of Yates’ Wine Lodges) bought it in 1947.
The front of the house includes the coats of arms of The Christian Family and that of Sir Clive Edwards, the son of Lady Kathleen Edwards, who lived in the house until his death in 1999, and is in the Gothic Revival style and dates from the early 1830s.
It is the crest of the Christian family which in the form of a shield mounted with the head of unicorn which is part of the freize art on the east elevation of the house.
The details of the crest are hard to discren as the house has been heavily-painted but it is possible to see that the sheild is shouldered and has a faint cheveron and has thre shapes in releif. The three shapes are probably 'three covered-cups'.
Below the Christian family crest is a narrow band of moulding with a repeated wave design.
Porch on the east elevation is currently undergoing restoration and there an information board attached to scafolding being used in this work which has the following information:
"During the 1970s the previous owner, Sir Clive Edwards, was advised to cover the entire exterior of the house with a type of webbing which was soaked in pitch, presumably to waterproof the house. This has been painted repeatedly. Earlier this year [2018] we took the decision to remove the webbing on the porch, in the hope of recovering some of the original detail from the 1830's.
We were astonished by what we found. It seems that in its original form the porch, and probably much of the exterior of the house, was decorated with very fine moldings which have been obsured for nearly fifty years.
Delicate Gothic tracery and sall heads, like gargoyles have been revealed.
However, the removal of the webbing has also exposed cracks in the plaster as well as some extremely poor attempts at repairs from the last century.
During the next few week we will be undertaking a careful restoration of these decorative features, which are unique on the Island... The Milntown Trustees."
Source: An Introduction to the Architecture of the Isle of Man by Patricia Tutt (ISBN: 978-1-907945-10-6)
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