The Laxey Wheel Coast


The Laxey Wheel

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The Isle of Man isn't part of the United Kingdom,

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but it's got a special place in its heart,

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looking out to all our shores.

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For a small island, it can boast some big ideas.

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How about the Laxey Wheel?

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Now that's what you call a water feature.

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And I've turned up in time to turn it on.

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Keeper of the wheel Roger Clare is showing me how it's done.

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Now all you need to do is turn the wheel clockwise.

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-Does it start first time?

-We'll see.

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MECHANISM CREAKS

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That's a good noise.

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Opening this valve releases a flow of water, which is forced

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up the tower to cascade on the wheel, setting it in motion.

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There it goes.

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Oh, that's great.

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You might get wet now.

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Oh, yeah!

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When it started to whirl in 1854, it wowed the locals

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and its sheer scale is still staggering.

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So why is the world's largest working waterwheel here,

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spinning around at the centre of the Irish Sea?

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There are clues to its construction nearby -

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the abandoned lead mines and the port at the bottom of the valley.

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It might be hard to believe today but 120 years ago this place hummed with activity

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as countless tonnes of zinc and lead ore were shipped out of the harbour here.

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Sea trade kept business buoyant at Laxey,

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but underground, water was threatening to sink it.

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Mine expert Pete Geddis is going to show me the damp, dingy hell-hole below.

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OK, Neil, well this is the entrance, access tunnel to the well shaft.

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-This little door?

-This little door.

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Oh, yes, I hate it already.

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It probably would have been wetter than this in the mining days

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because the discharged water would have run along here.

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Teams of miners toiled around the clock, chasing richer seams of ore.

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As they dug deeper, the water problem got worse.

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The miner's nightmare was the water ingressing into the shaft

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-and then getting into the levels below.

-Yeah.

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Where is the water coming from, if that's not a stupid question?

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This is just ground drainage water, it's running off the land, it's running down the bedrock,

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and then it finds its way onto the edge of the shaft, so it's a perpetual sea of rain down here.

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All mines flood.

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Often water was pumped out with steam engines,

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but with no coal on the Isle of Man, steam wasn't an option.

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So what about putting the water to work?

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That's what the Laxey Wheel does, Victorian style.

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Streams piped down the valley drove the wheel.

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Its rotation-powered machine is capable of pumping out 250 gallons of water per minute.

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Bailing out the mine shafts wasn't the wheel's only job.

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They could have boxed the machinery in, hidden it away.

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Instead, it's deliberately sited at the head of the valley,

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and emblazoned with the Three Legs of Man.

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A wheel of fortune, inviting investors to buy shares in the mine.

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