Laxey Mines

(Opening ceremony of the Laxey Wheel 1854)

The Laxey wheel, the Lady Isabella, is perhaps one of the best known and almost certainly the most photographed example of industrial archaeology in the British Isles. What is less appreciated is the part it played in the mining complex surrounding it. It is not known when mining operations started at Laxey but the earliest accounts place the date about 1781; for the next forty years there was intermittent work with little result. In 1822 the lease was taken up by Thos Satterthwaite, General Stapleton and others under the name of the Lonan Mining Association. Over the years a number of changes occurred in the partnership; there was also one serious accident, in 1836, when the river broke into the workings and drowned five men. The Laxey Mining Company was formed in 1848 and ran the mines until 1854, when it was reformed into the Great Laxey Mining Company. The last became a limited company in 1862 and, in turn, changed its name in 1903 to Great Laxey Limited.

The formation of the Laxey Mining Company began a period of expansion and success which was to reach its peak in 1874 and did not seriously falter until about 1890. In 1854-5 this mine was producing more zinc blende than the combined output of all the other mines in the British Isles, though in lead it was surpassed by Foxdale. World War 1 brought the men into contact with militant trade unionists from other areas and in 1919 a strike closed the mines and the old company never reopened. In 1922 a firm of grocers with other interests, Williamson's of Laxey, took over the lease and ran the mines until 1929. They also spent a £4,000 government (Tynwald) grant on exploration in the Grawe area, south of the original workings. The spoil heaps, 'deads', in the valley were removed as hard core, mainly for airport building during World War 11, and although an investigation has been made into the possible reserve of metal in the mine it is extremely unlikely that it will ever work again

The Laxey mines produced zinc, argentiferous lead and a certain amount of copper. The mine was worked from a series of shafts connected by an adit along the line of the strike, which ran almost due north/south. The shafts are situated along the line of the Agneash valley. The Corner shaft was sunk in 1862 to open up the southern (copper) ore bodies but by 1887 all machinery was removed and it had become a ladder-way only down to the 30 fathom level, where it was boarded off. A machine house for this shaft, with hauling gear operated by a turbine which used the water from the tailrace of the Lady Isabella, stood at the rear of Cronk y Chule farm and a stone-lined tunnel took the winding cables to the shaft.

The Engine shaft housed the pumps driven by the Lady Isabella and was also used for hauling, power being supplied from either the machine house or the engine house further up the valley. Its maximum depth was 247 fathoms.

The Welsh shaft (before 1870 always spelt Welch) was also used for hauling and used the same power sources. At one time a rod linkage at the 200 fathom level took power from the pump rods in the Engine shaft to operate pumps in the lower levels of this shaft, but this practice was superseded by the installation of the Dipper, a large (90gal) bucket with a flap valve in the bottom. It replaced the kibble (bucket used for hauling) at nights and weekends and raised the water so that it ran out along the 235 fathom level to the Engine shaft.

The maximum depth of the Welsh shaft was 295 fathoms, near its head is the concrete platform on which stood three double-fired steam pumps, which were brought in to clear the mine after it flooded in 1901. The flood was caused when a water-filled 'slide' was struck in the 225 fathom level some 850 fathoms north of Dumbell's shaft. (A slide is an east-west transverse dislocation of the lode and the main concentration of such faults was south of the Corner shaft.) The water reached the 110 fathom level and it was in the checking of the timbers following the successful reduction of the water level that another tragedy occurred, four men, being drowned.

Dumbell's shaft was begun about 1860 and was ultimately the deepest, at 302 fathoms. It was driven almost vertically (as opposed to the 10-15 degree 'lie' on the other shafts, which followed the ore body) and cross-cuts were made to the ore. Dumbell's was also used for hauling, and housed compressed air lines and a telephone, for communication between the machine house and the striking boards, which did not operate for very long. Originally power for hauling here came from a waterwheel on the hillside opposite Agneash but this was replaced by a turbine, possibly that removed from Cronk e Chule. Finally, a new winding house was built lower down the slope. The new winding gear was very powerful and could haul faster than it could lower-the kibble was said to go down the shaft on a slack rope. In 1893 a small pump was installed at the 278 fathom level to raise water from the shaft bottom to its own level.

The Agneash shaft was little used and reached a maximum depth of 591 fathoms, using a waterwheel for power. The North shaft is only vaguely recorded and reached a depth of only 200ft from the surface (all other shafts are measured from the adit level) and had one prospect, which acted as a drain into Ballawill farmyard. The shaft was filled in 1919.