View from WNW of W side of Caithness Row

Description View from WNW of W side of Caithness Row

Date 13/6/2002

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

Catalogue Number E 32604 CN

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 755059

Scope and Content Nos 9-16 Caithness Row, New Lanark, South Lanarkshire, west-north-west This shows Nos 9-16 Caithness Row which was built in the late 18th century. The 12-bayed building is divided into four blocks which are entered by small forestairs with railings. Four tanks for collecting spring water, used for water supply in the village, are buried underneath the drying green on the right. Caithness Row is named after the Scottish county which was the origin of some of the Highlanders who worked in the village. Nos 9-16 Caithness Row is a detached extension of Nos 1-8. The gap between these two buildings (left) allowed children to reach the School, via a bridge over the lade, without having to walk a longer distance past the mills. 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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