11th Milestone or "Drinkwater's Bend"[1] is a corner situated between the 11th Milestone and 12th Milestone road-side markers on the Snaefell Mountain Course used for the Isle of Man TT Races on the primary A3 Castletown to Ramsey Road which forms the boundary between the parishes of German and Michael in the Isle of Man.
The distinctive S-bend corner was part of the Highland Course and Four Inch Course used for the Gordon Bennett Trial and Tourist Trophy automobile car races held in the Isle of Man between 1904 and 1922. Also the 11th Milestone was part of the St John's Short Course used between 1907 and 1910 and part of the Snaefell Mountain Course used since 1911 for the Isle of Man TT Races and 1923 for the Manx Grand Prix Races.
The area is dominated by the Ballamenagh and Shoughlaige-e-Caine farmland. During the 1850s, the Castletown to Ramsey primary A3 Road was re-profiled between Cronk-y-Voddy and Handley's Corner.[2] This was to avoid marshland and steep inclines creating the distinctive S-bend known as Drinkwater's Bend after Ben Drinkwater crashed fatally at this point on the Mountain Course during the 1949 350 cc Junior TT Race.
The original stone 11th milestone was sited at the corner café at Glen Helen. An iron milestone[3] from the 1860s from the period of James Garrow as Isle of Man Surveyor-General[4] is now situated at the northerly end of 'Drinkwater's Bend' as the 13th Milestone on the primary A3 Castletown to Ramsey Road.[5]
The current site of the 11th marker post or 11th Milestone road marker for the Snaefell Mountain Course has been placed at Cronk Bane Farmhouse on the Cronk-y-Voddy straight. The S-bend corner Drinkwater's Bend still retains the name of 11th Milestone due to the distinctive metal milestone.
The corner was subjected to road surface repair work and re-profiling during the winter of 2005/2006 by the Department of Transport.
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