New Lanark World Heritage Site

History

David Dale, a banker and entrepreneur from Glasgow, was very attracted by the speedy currents of the River Clyde in Lanark. This was a much-loved location for painters and poets. Regardless of the fact in 1785 Dale created New Lanark, a brand-new industrial estate here from nothing. Within years this had grown to become Scotland’s largest cotton manufacturing centre. When David Dale’s son-in-law Robert Owen took over the business in 1800 New Lanark consisted of a number of water-driven spinning mills, rented dwellings and a huge workforce. In the following 25 years he made a huge name for himself as a social reformer by proving that commercial success did not necessarily have to be accompanied by repression and exploitation of the workforce. A man of great foresight, he invested a part of his business profits in bettering the lot of his employees. He was primarily concerned with their education. No wonder. His workforce consisted overwhelmingly of children. For this reason Owen created the so-called “Institute for the Formation of Character“, a primary school for very young children who were not yet employed in the mills combined with an evening school for older children. In addition he set up a cooperative food store, a pensions fund, a form of health insurance and a kindergarten. He even introduced the 10 hour working day. In all this he was a pioneer of the co-operative and Trades Union movement and a hero with the common man. That said, these measures were, for the most part, met with little appreciation, not to say open rejection within his own social circles. Owen’s era in new Lanark came to an end in 1825. His reforms, however, lived on for a long time. The spinning mills were modernised and the old waterwheels gradually replaced by turbines. In 1968 the factory doors were closed for ever. Thanks to a comprehensive programme of renovation New Lanark has been repopulated. The village now contains almost 200 inhabitants and a fascinating industrial museum.