View from E of NE side and SE gable end

Description View from E of NE side and SE gable end

Date 12/6/2002

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

Catalogue Number E 32480 CN

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 754937

Scope and Content Nos 9-24 Double Row, New Lanark, South Lanarkshire, from east This shows Nos 9-24 Double Row, which was built between the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The 24-bayed building is split into eight tenements with ashlar margins around the doors, windows and quoins (corner stones). Mill workers and their families mainly lived in single-roomed flats in these tenements although larger families may have been allowed more space. The tenements had no running water or toilets and often people would sleep on beds on wheels (hurley beds) that were kept under the built-in box-beds. Although cramped by modern standards these buildings were forward thinking for their time and Robert Owen ensured that there were regular inspections to check cleanliness. The New Lanark Association who, in partnership with the New Lanark Conservation Trust, is restoring the housing in the village, currently owns the building. 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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