View from E of NE side of Mill No. 2

Description View from E of NE side of Mill No. 2

Date 11/6/2002

Collection Records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinbu

Catalogue Number E 32360 CN

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 754817

Scope and Content Mill No 2, New Lanark, South Lanarkshire, from east This shows the 1884 brick-built extension on the north-east front of Mill No 2, which was originally built in 1788. The windows are arched and the central bay has a large hoist extending from the top floor. The single-bayed brick-built extension on the left links the mill with Mill No 3 and c.10m³ of water per second can be delivered by the mill lade in the foreground. Mill No 2 originally had three waterwheels in its basement which powered the cotton spinning machinery. A vertical drive shaft led from the wheel through the whole building and was linked by bevel gears to horizontal line-shafting on each floor. The spinning machines were connected to this shafting by rope or belt drives. This form of power transfer was very dangerous and mill workers were often injured. New Lanark was founded c.1785 by David Dale (1739-1806), a Glasgow merchant, and Richard Arkwright (1732-92), inventor of a water-frame for cotton spinning. Powered by water flowing from the Falls of Clyde the first cotton mill opened in 1786 and by 1799 the complex was the largest of its kind in Scotland. Robert Owen (1771-1858), who was married to David Dale's daughter, was one of a group who bought the mills in 1800. He transformed them into a model industrial community with good working conditions, houses, a non-profit store, a school and an institute for workers. Owen's partners bought the mills in 1828 and operated them until 1881 when another partnership took over. The Gourock Ropework Company ran the site until 1968 which is now mainly under the care of the New Lanark Conservation Trust (founded 1974-5). New Lanark was designated a World Heritage Site in 2001. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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