Malew

Malew is a parish in the Isle of Man. It is in the sheading of Rushen together with the neighbouring parishes of Rushen and Arbory.

Malew parish covers an area from Langness Peninsula and Scarlett up to Foxdale, and includes the villages of Ballasalla, St Mark's and Derbyhaven. The area includes both Ronaldsway and Balthane Industrial estates and the Isle of Man Airport. Geographically it also includes Castletown, but that town is administered separately. As a result, there is a small exclave of the parish which includes Scarlett Point.

Geography
The parish is bordered on the east by Santon Burn, on the north by the Granite Mountain and South Barrule, by an irregular line from the South Barrule to Poyll Vaaish on the west, and by the sea on the south. It contains about 15 square miles. Most of the parish is low and undulating, forming much of the southern plain of the island. The northern portion is more hilly, including the South Barrule, the highest point of the south of the island at 483 metres or approximately 1585 feet. The Silver Burn river rises near the South Barrule and flows under the Monks Bridge at Ballasalla, reaching the sea at Castletown harbour. The coast line is low, but rocky and dangerous. The coastal village of Derbyhaven, on an isthmus, has a natural harbour, protected by a small breakwater. Castletown Bay is a deep but exposed and dangerous inlet between Langness and Scarlett. The headlands are Dreswick Point and Langness Point, the two extremities of Langness peninsula; and Scarlett Point, a conical mass of sub-columnar basalt. The district is chiefly agricultural. Near the village of Ballasalla are the ruins of Rushen Abbey, founded in 1098, and dissolved late in the reign of Elizabeth I of England, and an ancient bridge over the Silverburn, called the Crossag, or Monk's Bridge, too narrow for vehicles. Derbyhaven is an agricultural and fishing village. St. Mark's, in the north of the parish, is a small agricultural village clustered round a chapel of ease.

Demographics
The Isle of Man census 2006 lists the population of the parish as 2,304, a slight increase from the population of 2,262 in 2001.

Governance
The local authority is Malew Parish Commissioners who are based in Ballasalla. There are currently five commissioners. The day to day actives of the authority are run by the clerk, Mr Barry Powell.