Laxey of the Isle of Man, was built in 1854 to pump water from the Laxey mine shafts. Now a tourist attraction, it remains the largest working waterwheel in the world. Designed by Robert Casement, it is in diameter and wide. It revolves at about 3 rpm. The mines employed over 600 miners at their peak, producing lead, copper, silver and zinc, until they closed in 1929. The Wheel was owned by Edwin Kneale from 1939 to 1965; he saved it from being dismantled and ran it as a tourist attraction, before passing it on to the Manx nation, with the
Manx language is frequently spelled "Manks" in historical sources, particularly those written by natives of the island; the word means "Mannish", and originates from the Old Norse "Mannisk". The name of the island, Man, is frequently spelled "Mann". It is sometimes accompanied by a footnote explaining that it is a two-syllable word, with the stress on the first syllable, "MAN-en". The island is named after the Irish god Manannán mac Lir, thus "Ellan Vannin" (Irish "Oileán Mhannanáin") 'Mannanán's Island'. Manx is a Goidelic language, closely related to Irish and Scottish Gaelic. On the whole it is partially mutually intelligible with these, and