A plan to restore a tholtan in the south has been approved by planners.

Douglas and Belinda Coole’s application (19/01290/B) for the building on Ballamodha Straight in Ballasalla will see the tholtan rebuilt and extended to create living accommodation and a new vehicle access.

The tholtan, called Pro Tem in the planning application, is described as being semi-derelict with the remains of an attached dwelling to its eastern gable with an outside thie veg (toilet) and well.

Planning committee chairman Tim Baker MHK said: ’For me it’s great to see something be brought back into use in a way that respects the history and the building isn’t just left to fall to rack and ruin.’

The Coole family’s proposal for the tholtan is to reestablish the building by reinstating the four walls and roof, while lowering the ground floor.

A slate roof will replace the red asbestos tiles which originally lined the roof.

The inglenook fireplace will be retained but it will be screened off from the habitable rooms.

On the north side of the building, an extension will be built with a cat-slide roof linking it to the main building.

It appears the tholtan was in use until the 1950s when it is believed it offered accommodation for itinerant (travelling) workers.

As the name Pro Tem suggests, the house was often used for temporary workers.

The tholtan featured in the Examiner’s Times Past pages in July 2016.

It was the focus of a curious tale of a work gang charged with providing Malew with adequate water discovering a leg in one of the windows.

The work gang summoned the police and when an officer arrived, he is said to have thrown the leg in disgust.

Of course, it wasn’t a real leg, rather a prop which once formed a costume when its owner appeared as the Three Legs of Mann.