Pub history

The Conister Arms

This pub is named after a partly submerged rock in Douglas Bay, called Conister Rock, on which a castle-like structure, the Tower of Refuge, stands – the brainchild of, and partly funded by, local resident and maritime humanitarian Sir William Hillary. It stands as both a visible warning of the dangerous reef and a refuge for mariners. Hillary’s most enduring legacy is as the founder, in 1824, of the RNLI, an organisation dedicated to saving lives at sea throughout the UK and Ireland.