Groudle was a remote hamlet boasting only a handful of small cottages until linked to the Manx Electric Railway in 1893, at which time it was developed as a tourist attraction.

Whereas most glens are formed naturally, it was a conscious effort by the owners to provide part of the attraction to the Victorian visitor by being able to inspect a wide variety of trees, something which is still evident today.

At the beach there were bowling and croquet greens, a mill, crofters' cottages and a bridge accessing the Howstrake Holiday Camp which was on the adjacent headland.

The glen itself runs from the Whitebridge in Onchan to the sea at Port Groudle and is still open to the public today, although the majority of the attractions, save for the restored railway, have all but disappeared.

In the lower (seaward) section of the glen, which is now in private ownership, were lily ponds that the accessed by the public by a series of winding boarded walkways.