Interior. View from SE in recently restored upper-floor school room, with Musicians' Gallery in the background

Description Interior. View from SE in recently restored upper-floor school room, with Musicians' Gallery in the background

Date 12/6/2002

Catalogue Number SC 754901

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of E 32444 CN

Scope and Content Restored upper-floor schoolroom, The School, New Lanark, South Lanarkshire This shows a restored schoolroom on the upper floor of the School, which was built in 1817. The room is wood-lined to dado (shoulder) height and has an ornate ceiling rose in the centre which is flanked by plain ones. There are models of musicians on the Musicians' Gallery, probably originally used for visitors to watch classes. Traditional-style desks line the room. The School closed in 1884 and was used as a net factory before being converted back into an education centre in 2000. The School helped Robert Owen develop his ideas on creating a harmonious society at New Lanark but the high running costs caused friction with his business partners. It cost £2.70 per annum for each day pupil which was three or four times the national average. Owen justified the school to his partners by saying the well-being of people was just as important as the maintenance of machines. 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.

External Reference Original: E32444/CN

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/754901

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap