0:00:26 > 0:00:29The Isle of Man isn't part of the United Kingdom,
0:00:29 > 0:00:32but it's got a special place in its heart,
0:00:32 > 0:00:34looking out to all our shores.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39For a small island, it can boast some big ideas.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42How about the Laxey Wheel?
0:00:44 > 0:00:47Now that's what you call a water feature.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52And I've turned up in time to turn it on.
0:00:52 > 0:00:56Keeper of the wheel Roger Clare is showing me how it's done.
0:01:00 > 0:01:05Now all you need to do is turn the wheel clockwise.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08- Does it start first time?- We'll see.
0:01:08 > 0:01:10MECHANISM CREAKS
0:01:10 > 0:01:12That's a good noise.
0:01:12 > 0:01:15Opening this valve releases a flow of water, which is forced
0:01:15 > 0:01:19up the tower to cascade on the wheel, setting it in motion.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21There it goes.
0:01:21 > 0:01:22Oh, that's great.
0:01:24 > 0:01:26You might get wet now.
0:01:26 > 0:01:27Oh, yeah!
0:01:29 > 0:01:35When it started to whirl in 1854, it wowed the locals
0:01:35 > 0:01:38and its sheer scale is still staggering.
0:01:43 > 0:01:47So why is the world's largest working waterwheel here,
0:01:47 > 0:01:51spinning around at the centre of the Irish Sea?
0:01:51 > 0:01:54There are clues to its construction nearby -
0:01:54 > 0:01:58the abandoned lead mines and the port at the bottom of the valley.
0:02:00 > 0:02:05It might be hard to believe today but 120 years ago this place hummed with activity
0:02:05 > 0:02:11as countless tonnes of zinc and lead ore were shipped out of the harbour here.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14Sea trade kept business buoyant at Laxey,
0:02:14 > 0:02:19but underground, water was threatening to sink it.
0:02:23 > 0:02:29Mine expert Pete Geddis is going to show me the damp, dingy hell-hole below.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33OK, Neil, well this is the entrance, access tunnel to the well shaft.
0:02:33 > 0:02:35- This little door?- This little door.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41Oh, yes, I hate it already.
0:02:41 > 0:02:44It probably would have been wetter than this in the mining days
0:02:44 > 0:02:47because the discharged water would have run along here.
0:02:47 > 0:02:52Teams of miners toiled around the clock, chasing richer seams of ore.
0:02:52 > 0:02:56As they dug deeper, the water problem got worse.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00The miner's nightmare was the water ingressing into the shaft
0:03:00 > 0:03:02- and then getting into the levels below.- Yeah.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05Where is the water coming from, if that's not a stupid question?
0:03:05 > 0:03:10This is just ground drainage water, it's running off the land, it's running down the bedrock,
0:03:10 > 0:03:15and then it finds its way onto the edge of the shaft, so it's a perpetual sea of rain down here.
0:03:16 > 0:03:18All mines flood.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21Often water was pumped out with steam engines,
0:03:21 > 0:03:25but with no coal on the Isle of Man, steam wasn't an option.
0:03:25 > 0:03:29So what about putting the water to work?
0:03:31 > 0:03:37That's what the Laxey Wheel does, Victorian style.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40Streams piped down the valley drove the wheel.
0:03:40 > 0:03:47Its rotation-powered machine is capable of pumping out 250 gallons of water per minute.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54Bailing out the mine shafts wasn't the wheel's only job.
0:03:54 > 0:03:59They could have boxed the machinery in, hidden it away.
0:03:59 > 0:04:03Instead, it's deliberately sited at the head of the valley,
0:04:03 > 0:04:07and emblazoned with the Three Legs of Man.
0:04:10 > 0:04:15A wheel of fortune, inviting investors to buy shares in the mine.