[ May, 2014 ] There is the world largest working waterwheel in Laxey in Isle of Man.
It is called The Great Laxey Wheel, but the official name is Lady Isabella.
Isabella is the name of the wife of the then island’s governor.
The diameter is 22 metres and cercumference is 69 metres and it was completed in 1854.
The conducter of the mountain railway said “world largest”, but in the booklet I bought there says “largest in Europe” moderately.
It was built in order to take the water out of the Laxey Mine and keep it dry.
This was the mine for lead and zinc.
There was a spiral staircase next to the wheel and we could go up onto the top of the wheel.
It was a thrilling experience for me who has a tendency of acrophobia.
The mine itself was closed in 1929.
Now the tourists can enter there with helmets on, just for a few metres.
I thought about the miners’ life with the days without sunlight.
