Thing Sites: Tynwald Court, Douglas Traditional Geocache
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Thing Sites: Tynwald Court, Douglas
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This cache is part of the official Thing Sites GeoTour. A magnetic nano-cache. Please bring your own pencil to complete the log roll.
Thing sites, from the Old Norse Þing, are the early assemblies found throughout Northern Europe as a result of our shared Norse heritage.
When the Vikings and early Norse settlers arrived in a new place they brought with them their customs and legal systems. Political decisions were made at the thing, laws upheld and disputes settled. Proceedings were overseen by the local ruler and the law-speaker (judge), whose job was to memorise and recite the law. At some things, known as Althings, any free man was entitled to vote. At others - Lawthings - the crown and local communities acted together to interpret the law.
The thing was also a focus for religious activity, as well as trade and exchange. At Thingvellir in Iceland you can still see the remains of the booths, or huts, where traders came to do business with people attending the meeting.
The thing system for sharing and legislating power can still be recognised today. Several things continue to be active. The Icelandic parliament is still known as the Althing, the Norwegian parliament is called the Storting and the Faroese parliament goes by the name of Løgting. The Manx parliament, known as Tynwald, still holds a midsummer court on the thing mound at Tynwald Hill every year.
The Thing Sites GeoTour has placed caches in and around the locations of Norse and Viking assembly sites in Norway, Iceland, The Faroe Islands, Orkney, Shetland, Highland Scotland, and the Isle of Man. Follow in the footsteps of the Vikings, and explore some of these fascinating sites.
The High Court of Tynwald is the parliament of the Isle of Man and has an unlimited, but not necessarily exclusive, legislative competence.
Tynwald is of Norse origin and over 1,000 years old, and claims to be the oldest parliaments in the world with an unbroken existence.
It has two Branches, the Legislative Council and the House of Keys, which sit separately to consider legislation, but also sit together in Douglas. The court also sits at Tynwald Hill, St Johns, the site of the historic Thing once a year every July on Tynwald Day
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