Detailed view from N of NE and NW sides of the engine house, which is detached from the mill itself (background right) , being situated at the NW end of 'The Institute'. Mill No.3 and its engine hous ...

Description Detailed view from N of NE and NW sides of the engine house, which is detached from the mill itself (background right) , being situated at the NW end of 'The Institute'. Mill No.3 and its engine house are now connected by an overhead walkway

Date 13/6/2002

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

Catalogue Number E 32621 CN

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 755076

Scope and Content Engine House, The Institute, New Lanark, South Lanarkshire, from north This shows the 1881 engine house which was built onto the New Institution for the Formation of Character, part of which can be seen on the left. The three-bayed engine house has a forestair with railings and an arched entrance doorway with arched windows at each side. The engine house is connected to Mill No 3 (right background) by a covered bridge. This is a replica of the covering for the rope drive system which transferred the power generated by the steam engine in the engine house to the mill. The engine house was installed in 1882 with a 550-horsepower horizontal engine made by J Petrie of Rochdale, which was scrapped in the mid-20th century. The engine was used only when the water level was too low or frozen to work the waterwheels in the mills. The engine house now contains a smaller 1912 twin tandem compound engine, by the same makers, from Philiphaugh Mill, Selkirk. 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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