Address A18, Isle of Man | Year built 1870 | |
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Owner Georgina Corbett and Geoff Ball Similar Guthrie's Memorial - Isle of Man, Hillberry Corner, Quarterbridge - Isle of Man, Braddan Bridge, TT Grandstand | ||
Kate's Cottage (The Keppel or Tate's Cottage, previously part of the sheep-gates at Keppel Gate) is situated near to the summit of Slieau Ree (316 m) adjacent to the 34th Milestone racing road-side milestone marker used for the Snaefell Mountain Course on the primary A18 Mountain Road in Onchan parish, Isle of Man.
As Keppel Gate, the section of A18 Mountain Road including Kate's Cottage and the accompanying Keppel sheep-gates were part of the Highland Course and Four Inch Course used for the Gordon Bennett Trial and Tourist Trophy car races held between 1904 and 1922. The corner is part of the Snaefell Mountain Course used since 1911 for the Isle of Man TT and from 1923 for the Manx Grand Prix races.
The A18 Snaefell Mountain Road was developed in the mid-19th century from a number of pre-existing roads, carting-tracks and bridle paths. This included installation of a number of sheep-gates including the East Mountain Gate, the Beinn-y-Phott sheep-gate and Nobles Gate at Brandywell and Keppel Gate. This section of the A18 Snaefell Mountain Road from the Keppel Gate to Park Mooar/Park Llewellyn (North Barrule) was built on common grazing land that were transferred to the UK Crown following the sale of the Islands feudal rights by the Duke of Atholl after the Disafforesting Commission of 1860.
Contemporary photographs of the TT races in the 1920s and 1930s show sheep-gates at Kate's Cottage and also at Keppel Gate, with the name Keppel Gate referred to at both the locations. The typical nineteenth century small stone-walled cottage including sheep-folds was previously occupied by the mountain shepherd Cecil Rhodes Tate and Gladys Tate
It has often been alluded to that a BBC commentator mistakenly referred to Tate's Cottage as Kate's Cottage. The name may have originated as a printers typesetting error with the mountain cottage at the Keppel mountain accidentally being transposed to Kate's Cottage during the printing process. The property, formerly owned by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, was sold at public auction and is now in private ownership.