"The Marvellous Treasure

of the

Miser Mylecharne"

                       Towards the end of the 17th century lived a miser by the name of William Mylecharane

              His home was on the Isle of Man in the curraghs near Jurby, bordered by dark glens.  There

              dwelt the dreaded Carrasdhoo Men, robbers and pillagers of the wretched shipwrecks strewn

              along the treacherous coastline.

                       Talented smugglers, the Carrasdhoo Men were known to bury their contraband deep

              in the curraghs.  One day, while digging in the curraghs for the turf-fuel, Mylecharane unearthed a

              wonderful treasure-trove which contained many coins of gold, silver and copper.  Hidden among

              the treasure was a bishop's pectoral cross fashioned from silver, dating back to the 15th century.

                       Mylecharane carried his new wealth to his cottage where he hid it under his bed.

               He was a conspicuous eccentric and a figure of fun among his neighbors.  His dress was that of  

              ealier days, made of home tanned leather clothing.  His coat was the hide of a cow.  His breeches 

              were a calf skin.  He wore a leather hat and, worst of all-his footwear were carranes.  These were 

              shoes made of cow hide with the hair left on, as worn by the poorest peasants.  As an added 

              embarrassment  the miser's carranes were of odd colors-one white and one black.

                      At this time Mylecharane's daughter had become betrothed.  To impress her sweetheart's

             family she stole some of her father's money and proudly decked herself out in fine new clothes.

                      She reproached the miser for his old fashioned ways, accusing him of wearing just one pair

              of shoes and two pairs of stockings for the past fourteen years.  Stung, Mylecharane assured his

             daughter that she had no cause to be ashamed of his tight fisted ness.  He told her he had promised

             a generous dowry of an ox and a length of woven flax as her marriage portion.  

                     This made his daughter very angry.  The ancient Viking custom of the bride-price was

             still the practice in Man at this time.  A bridegroom paid the bride's parents a sum of money in 

             exchange for her.  This showed her value and desirability.  Mylecharane's daughter cursed her 

             father bitterly seven times for the insult he had offered her.

                     The miser then found that some of his gold had been pilfered.  So he gathered all the treasure

             from under his bed and made to bury it by night under the turf.

                     Mylecharane's daughter's curses may well have borne fruit.  He died soon after and the

            whereabouts of the treasure went with him to the grave.

                     The silver "Mylecharane Cross" was found and kept in the family until the early 1900's

            when it was presented to the Manx Museum in Douglas.

                     Generations of his descendants have searched the curraghs in vain for their ancestor's wealth.

             The records show that an Ann Mylecharane was sued by a neighbor for unlawfully digging in his

             meadow.  Her defense was that she was "looking for turf fuel NOT treasure.  But who knows?

             Perhaps the lure of the miser's gold was still working.

The Mylecharane Ballad a popular ballad was written and noted in

"Legends of Manxland-1859"

The ballad was written to tell the tale of the Mylecharane treasure.