A respected Manx historian has debunked the long-standing tale surrounding one of the Isle of Man’s most puzzling historic monuments, branding it a ‘Victorian joke.’

St Patrick’s Chair, located in a field known as Magher y Chairn (‘Field of the Lord’) on the Garth in Marown, has long intrigued archaeologists and antiquarians.

Tradition suggests that Saint Patrick himself used the site to preach Christianity to the island’s early inhabitants.

The monument consists of a mound of earth and stones with a series of standing slabs, two of which bear simple, roughly carved crosses—offering some evidence of a Christian link.

Some historians have theorised that the site was originally a prehistoric burial mound, possibly from the Bronze Age, which was later repurposed as a Christian gathering place in the Early Medieval period.

Others have suggested it was a meeting place for religious preaching.

However, in a recent YouTube video, Manx historian Charles Guard, who has a YouTube channel with more than 2,000 subscribers and uses it to share videos surrounding the island’s history and heritage, dismissed these theories outright.

He said: ‘The trouble is, that’s all complete nonsense.

‘Christianity arrived in the Isle of Man in the fifth century—around 1,500 years ago.

‘How could anyone today possibly know where the first gospel was preached?

‘If you were bringing Christianity to the island, you would land on a beach, not trek into the middle of nowhere to do it.’

Mr Guard revealed that an Ordnance Survey record from the 1930s references a report from the 1860s in which local farmers admitted to creating the monument as a hoax.

‘So it’s not an ancient site. It’s not a Neolithic tomb. It’s not thousands of years old. It’s certainly not St Patrick’s Chair.

‘It’s actually a Victorian joke,’ he concluded.