The Laxey Wheels keep turning

No holiday on the Isle of Man would be complete without a visit to Laxey.  Not only is it the starting point for the Snaefell Mountain Tramway (my previous post) but it's also home to the famous Laxey Wheel. 

More of the latter in a moment, but first I was surprised to be greeted to Laxey with a fine sight, guaranteed to warm the heart of this Cornish girl — the Cornish cross of St Piran flying high and flanked by two (slightly lower) Isle of Man flags. Dismissing the thought that they'd heard I was coming, I decided to investigate.

It turns out that a 50ft water wheel, constructed for Snaefell Mine, fell into disuse in 1908 and was sent to Blisland in Cornwall where, for many years, it powered a china clay slurry pump. By the 1950's the wheel was out of use again and was acquired by the Trevithick Society. Eventually all agreed that the old wheel should be returned to the land of its birth and in 2006, after a lot of fundraising and dedicated hard work, it turned again. If you're interested, you can read the full story here.

"Presented by the Trevithick Society as a gift from the people of Cornwall
to the people of the Isle of Man." 

Grand though the Snaefell Wheel undoubtedly is, she is but a baby in comparison with her famous cousin, a little further up the valley.

This is Lady Isabella, Laxey's enormous 72 footer — the largest working water wheel in the world. Everything about her is impressive; not least the climb up the spiral stairway to the top, from where there are fine views back down towards Laxey. It pays to have a head for heights, though.  One guy I met up there was looking decidedly ashen and wishing he was back down at ground level. 

The white stone viaduct carries a drive shaft to transfer the action of the water wheel to a pump at the far end... 
a l-o-n-g way away.

I wasn't in the least surprised to discover, when gathering information for this post, that the Laxey Wheel has been immortalised in song. Here's the first verse and chorus:

When Laxey was a mining village many years ago,

there were 600 miners working under Captain Rowe.

The bottom of the mineshaft was below the water line

so they had to build a wheel to pump the water from the mine.

And the Laxey Wheel keeps turning, turning, turning,

in Lady Isabella's memory,

and while the water flows

the Laxey Wheel still goes

and the Laxey river runs down to the sea.

(Stuart Slack)

Now that would make a very good song for a Ukulele group to sing and play.  Stand by for my next post!