Menosteration; Living History

In the second week of September, I was again parking up in New Lanark, but there was a difference for this visit. Aitch was coming to stay, too! Not in The Grey, but in one of the Water Cottages attached to the hotel in the converted mill down in New Lanark village.

Hers was the door furthest away in the centre of that photo. It was a lovely wee set-up, with windows looking right onto the fast-flowing waters of the Clyde.

I have often written about parking in this estate, which sits down the glen from the older town of Lanark; however, I had not, until this time with Aitch, actually gone down into the mill town. Mainly because it is such a ridiculously steep descent/climb. During this visit, though, we discovered that there is a courtesy shuttle bus that funs Friday - Monday from the top car park down into the visitor centre car park, which is useful to know for future stays. 

Apart from the geocaching opportunities available for my good buddy, we could both indulge in our passion for history and nature. A bit more about the second coming up on Friday, but today, a bit about the mill town itself. 

New Lanark is so named because it sits right on the edge of the old town of Lanark. It was built from scratch in 1785 and opened in 1786 by banker David Dale and industrial pioneer Richard Arkwright. The mills and housing for all the workers were created to process cotton from raw bales to finished cloth. Arkwright only stayed in the partnership for a year, but DD remained with the town (and several others around Scotland) until his retirement when he sold the enterprise to his son-in-law, Robert Owen.

Dale was a serious philanthropist and one of those Georgian industrialists who believed strongly in providing (for their time) good accommodation, three R's schooling, healthy living, and decent working conditions. We might still see them as restrictive, even oppressive, but the New Lanark mills, as well as the others Dale founded, all gained good reputations and were seen as desirable places to find oneself. 

When Owen took up the business, he continued this legacy and even sought to improve on it as much as was acceptable in those days. Indeed, he was keen on both work and social reform and used NL almost as an experimental community. It was under Owen's managership that NL became truly famous. 

Eventually, Owen relocated to America, and the sons of his business partner, Charles and Henry Walker, took over the running of NL. They were Quakers, and they continued the policy of enlightened managership. However, they, too, sought to move on, and in 1881, ownership passed to the owners of the Gourock Ropeworks (I've mentioned that building here a couple of times, too!).  They introduced the Petrie steam engine for powering the mills... and business continued under them until 1968 when the mills finally closed.

For a brief time, the place was used as a sort of recycling for scrap metals kind of place, but the fabric of the buildings was not attended to, and deterioration resulted in the roof of the school building collapsing as well as other breakdowns in the structure. In 1974, the New Lanark Trust was formed with a remit to restore all the buildings and keep the place active. There is now a resident population in a little over sixty homes, Mill One has become a hotel, and Mill Two is the museum, cafe, and gift shop. The large water wheel generates hydroelectricity for the village, and now the working part of the mill produces organic wool yarns.

When Aitch and I entered the visitor centre to pay for a look around the museum, the lady at the counter was happily chatty. Her grandmother had been among those who worked in the mills in the 1960s, and she remembered visiting her for holidays. She still had to pinch herself that she not only now worked in this living historic monument (which is a UNESCO-listed site) but had also been able to purchase one of the homes on the main street! Lucky lady. It really is something special. 

All the necessary things and information are in the museum, but it is not huge, and the very clever little pod ride at the beginning sets the scene wonderfully. We didn't get to the school building or other parts of the village, but we did enjoy an excellent (and value for money) lunch in the cafeteria... and, of course, I couldn't turn down the chance of obtaining some mill-spun yarn from the shop!  

This was all on the Monday of our time together, and we agreed there was more to explore. Aitch said she would be happy to make a return visit. There really is that much to enjoy here. 

In addition to the village itself, there is the larger estate, with lots of walks and points of interest—all set in a National Nature Reserve. More on that in Friday's post!

If you enjoy reading about historic places like this and the people who built and populated them, please read more HERE!