Laxey Washing Floors
The Laxey Washing Floors are a rather unusual visitor attraction at Laxey on the Isle of Man, found by the Laxey Glen and close to the famed Laxey Great Wheel, and like the Wheel the Washing Floors were part of the mine operation. Today they are part of the 'Laxey Mines Trail' and within the Laxey Valley Gardens.
The site are today found in the area known as the Valley Gardens, where the Great Laxey Mine Railway has its terminus.
History
The Washing Floors were built in 1848, in the days of mining in Laxey and to serve the mine: on the Washing Floors the mixed deposits of metal ore fresh from the mine would have the waste material separated and the valuable ores sorted in the process known as "dressing". Nearly three hundred people worked on the Washing Floors in the 1870s, including a number of women and children.
While the mine operated, trains laden with ore arrived at the top of the washing floors through the tunnel beneath the main road (and later the Manx Electric Railway line) at the top of the storage bunkers. The tramway wagons were uncoupled and the contents tipped down the "teams" to the bunkers below. The sloping stonework of the "teams" still survives and the wear on the stone from the ore falling from the tramway wagons is still apparent.
On the Floors, waste stone was first sorted by hand and the ore placed in a crusher, which was followed by numerous mechanised operations powered by waterwheels to separated the ore. Beneath the Washing Floors, a horse-drawn tramway carried the ore down the Glen Road to Laxey Harbour from where it was shipped away to smelting works in Glamorgan.
The machinery on the Washing Floors was finally scrapped in 1935.
In 2006, the Snaefell Wheel was rebuilt on the Valley Gardens by members of the Laxey Mines Research Group.
