View from N of NE side of the Institute, including the main entrance

Description View from N of NE side of the Institute, including the main entrance

Date 13/6/2002

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

Catalogue Number E 32398 CN

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 754855

Scope and Content The Institute, New Lanark, South Lanarkshire, from north This shows the north-east front of the New Institution for the Formation of Character which was built between 1809 and 1816 with an engine house added in 1881. A pediment with an oculus (circular window) tops the central three bays and the portico is supported on four Doric columns with two pilasters (narrow rectangular columns) against the wall. Three models of mill workers have been placed outside the building which has been strengthened with metal tie bars bolted onto metal plates just under the first floor. The Institution cost £3,000 to build and was extremely important in allowing Robert Owen to develop his ideas on creating a harmonious society at New Lanark. He hoped that he could improve the morals of his adult workforce and make them aspire to a better standard of living. Originally the building was used as a school but it became the centre of the village as it was used as a religious meeting place, canteen, dance and concert hall. 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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