A view of bracing timbers, Duke Lane, Douglas, Isle of Man, 1932-34 (b/w photo)

On the back of this photograph John James Frowde writes, "The second house on left, with the 'dado' at the doorway, was the Tobacco Factory of Mr. Wm. Paul Gelling, son of the Rev. Alexander Gelling, a former Vicar of Arbory. His second son, William Clucas Gelling (Chemist later), was a boyhood chum of mine; and in the 1870s, I have spent loads of hours aloft in these premises, fascinated as I watched Vose and Daughterty, the tobacco spinners, rolling out the yards and yards of 'twiss' on the long boards used for the purpose. The premises must have taken in an upper floor at the rear of one of the Duke Street houses. Yes. When the west side of Muckles' Gate was taken down, there appears certain joists from the rear of Gellings to Ashtons (?) outlet, [?] that earlier supported a 'gallery' or viaduct."