Isle of Man 5 new pence 1971 Proof - Tower of Refuge

The coin's story

The Isle of Man changed to the decimal system in 1971, the same year as the United Kingdom, with its own series of coins whose reverses were designed by Christopher Ironside. On the 5 new pence he depicted the Tower of Refuge, a small castle built on Conister Rock (St Mary's Isle), a reef in Douglas Bay dreaded by sailors. In November 1830 the ship St George was wrecked there, and Sir William Hillary took part in the rescue of the crew. Hillary led the island branch of the National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck, the forerunner of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. He had the tower built in 1832, largely at his own expense, to plans by the architect John Welch, to shelter shipwrecked sailors while awaiting rescue. The tower has become one of the symbols of Douglas. The 1971 coins have no mint mark, from 1972, those of the Pobjoy Mint bear the PM mark below the bust. The type was replaced in 1976 by the “map of the island” series, and the coin is now demonetised.