Similar Groudle Glen railway st, Laxey Wheel, Peel Castle | ||
Tm40 little isabella
Little Isabella is a rustic water wheel, situated in Groudle Glen on the Isle of Man, that was originally built in 1893 with the arrival of the Manx Electric Railway to the glen. It has been dubbed the "Little Isabella" owing to its alleged resemblance to the Laxey Wheel in nearby Laxey which was opened in 1854 by Lady Isabella, the wife of the then Lieutenant Governor of the island. In its time the wheel has been used for various purposes, including pumping water to the Groudle Hotel (designed by Hugh Ballie-Scott) and providing power for the fairy lights that ran through the glen from the entrance to Lhen Coan, terminus of the Groudle Glen Railway. Latterly its function has become entirely aesthetic.
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The wheel house was rebuilt in 1954 when the glen was enjoying something of a renaissance as a tourist attraction, and rumours abounded at this time that the wheel house was haunted. The wheel was featured, in a disguised form, in a 1986 episode of the BBC series Lovejoy, in a story that led to buried treasure being discovered in one of the paddles. In 1994 the wheel was refurbished by Laxey Towing Co. Ltd. and re-opened to the fanfare music of Onchan Silver Band. Since this time it has operated sporadically in conjunction with train services on the nearby railway, but, following storms in October 2002, it was damaged and has subsequently been a purely static exhibit.