Laxey Wheel

Set upon the hills near the village of Laxey rests the giant Laxey Wheel. The wheel was built in 1854 by Robert Casement, a Laxey native and talented engineer. The Laxey Wheel remains the largest working waterwheel in the world!

The wheel has a diameter of 72ft and a circumference of 227ft. It was used to pump 250 gallons of water a minute from the Laxey mines some 200 yards away and 1500ft below ground. The mines employed over 600 miners at their peak, producing lead, copper, silver and zinc until the mines closed in 1929.