NEW LANARK: 1-10 Braxfield Row

Description NEW LANARK: 1-10 Braxfield Row

Date 6/2002

Catalogue Number SC 755044

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of E 32588 CN

Scope and Content Nos 1-10 Braxfield Row, New Lanark, South Lanarkshire, from west This shows part of the south-west front of Nos 1-10 Braxfield Row which was built in the late 18th century. The south-west front, seen here, is four and five-storeyed, but, because the building is built on a slope, the north-east front is two and three-storeyed. The building is split into ten tenements which have door and window surrounds of dressed freestone. Mill workers and their families mainly lived in single-roomed flats in these tenements although larger families may have been allowed more space. Living conditions were good for the time but poor by modern day standards. The only source of water was from public wells or the River Clyde and sewage was stored in public dung heaps. 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: E32588/CN

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/755044

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap