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