The Isle of Man is the only entire nation to boast UNESCO Biosphere status, reflecting it is a special place for people and nature. In our regular feature, authors from different walks of Manx life offer a personal perspective on #MyBiosphere.

This month, Allison Fox, the curator of archaeology at Manx National Heritage, writes:

The seascape of the Manx coast has always been an important part of my sense of belonging and identity.

That dynamic, transitional space between land and sea has always held a fascination, which started in the Isle of Man and has accompanied me to other places.

I grew up in Castle Mona Avenue and, walking to St Thomas’ School each day along Douglas promenade, the Tower of Refuge, in particular, was always in my peripheral vision.

Years later, returning for holidays whilst living and working away, the tower was always a welcome site towards the end of my journey home.

The tower was originally commissioned by Manx resident Sir William Hillary. Hillary lived at Fort Anne, overlooking Douglas Bay, in the early 1800s, where many (but not all) ships of the time would come in to berth, or to shelter from storms in the Irish Sea.

He witnessed numerous shipwrecks and participated in many rescues himself, not least that of the crew of St George on November 20 1830.

Douglas harbour then stopped much closer to shore, and large ships like the St George couldn’t always make it in.

Sir William Hillary saw this and began raising support and funds to build a structure on Conister Rock that would show that the rock was there.

In 1832, Hillary laid the first stone of what was to become the Tower of Refuge.

Eight years before the tower was started, Hillary’s vision for a National Institution for the Preservation of Lives from Shipwreck became a reality on March 4 1824.

It would later become known as the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Two hundred years on, the RNLI have saved thousands of lives.

It is fair to say that I knew none of this all those years ago, going to and from school.

But now, when the waves of Douglas Bay are hurtling themselves over the railings, or when the surface of the sea is flat calm, the familiar landmark of the Tower of Refuge reminds me of the legacy of Sir William Hillary and the huge contribution that events around the Isle of Man have made.