A local historian has outlined how he came up with a plan to save the long-closed and increasingly derelict Falcon Cliff lift.

As IoM Today reported last weekend, the public lift that ran from just off Central Promenade to the Falcon Cliff Hotel closed in 1990.

But 35 years on, the funicular car survives - just - in the remains of the top station, almost hidden by the ever-encroaching undergrowth.

The site is privately-owned with signs warning trespassers will be prosecuted.

Historian Charles Guard said he developed a proposal in 2008 to save this unique piece of the island’s transport heritage while working for Culture Vannin.

His idea was to relocate the old lift to Groudle as a way of increasing access to the glen for those who are mobility impaired.

The lift would have run from Groudle Road, down through the trees, to the bandstand in the glen.

Mr Guard said: ‘When I was at Culture Vannin I was trying to develop a proposal to move the lift and relocate it to Groudle so that disabled people could get down to the glen without having to use the long set of steps.

‘A bit mad, perhaps, but a possible way of saving it.

‘I was planning to bring some consultants over but then the banking crash happened - this was in 2008 - and it all fell by the wayside.’

The lift once carried many happy holidaymakers to the summer season cabaret shows at the castellated Falcon Cliff Hotel, once one of the capital’s busiest night-time entertainment venues but now offices for financial services firm Stonehage Fleming.

In its final years, the fare was 10p for the ride from the lower station on Palace View Terrace.

The funicular was installed in 1927, replacing an earlier one that was re-erected at Port Soderick.