NEW LANARK: 1-10 Braxfield Row

Description NEW LANARK: 1-10 Braxfield Row

Date 6/2002

Catalogue Number SC 755042

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of E 32586 CN

Scope and Content Nos 1-10 Braxfield Row, New Lanark, South Lanarkshire, from north-east This shows the north-east front of the two western tenements of Nos 1-10 Braxfield Row which was built in the late 18th century. The north-east front of these two tenements is two-storeyed, but, because the building is built on a steep slope, the south-west front is four-storeyed. The garden in the foreground belongs to the tenement in the centre and the other nine tenements in Braxfield Row all have gardens on the north-east side of New Lanark Road. 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 sewage was removed from the dung heaps outside and that there was a fresh water supply from a well. Since 1975 each of these tenements have been restored into individual houses and are now privately owned. 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: E32586/CN

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/755042

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap