New Lanark

Understand

thumb | 300px | New Lanark mills were powered by the Clyde

Until the 18th century, textile production was a domestic affair: a loom powered by hand or foot-treadle would take up a room, with the family living around it. This "cottage industry" couldn't compete with bigger mills powered by waterwheels. The cost of production per item fell dramatically, but such goods had to be mass-produced, and textile workers became hired labour who no longer "owned the means of production". The new owners were a wealthy minority or anonymous companies who could make the necessary capital investment; they saw little of and cared less for their workers, whose conditions were often squalid. A few reformers tried to buck the trend, one such being Robert Owen (1771-1858). He believed that welfare of his workers and their families was not just a religious and moral imperative, but sound business strategy. When he took over New Lanark he made it into a beacon of "utopian socialism", whose workers were (by the standards of the day) well-housed and well-fed, and their children well-schooled. And, for a time, it succeeded.

The waterwheel was the prime mover, powering every machine by a series of shafts, pulleys and drive belts, so everything had to cluster nearby. It couldn't power domestic work, which remained hard manual graft, so the reformist mind started to think of communal solutions to tasks such as laundry, food preparation and heating. And Robert Owen was the intellectual prime mover, dr…

Get in

is the focus of all transport routes. It has frequent trains and buses from Glasgow, and connections from Edinburgh.

New Lanark is two miles south of Lanark and is well-signposted; so you could walk it, or follow the Clyde Walkway which ends here.

Stuarts Coach 135 that ran between Lanark and New Lanark has been discontinued and not replaced by another service.

By car, approach along Braxfield Road then use the main car park which is at the top of the steep hill above the village. Blue-badge holders may park down in the village, but there are only a few spaces: if feasible arrange to drop off or pick up in the village leaving the car in the main car park.

See

is a compact village of well-preserved 18th-century mills and homes, presented as they were in the 1820s. Start at the Visitor Centre, open daily Apr-Oct 10AM-17:00, Nov-Mar 10AM-16:00. "Passport" tickets cover all the attractions (below) and include two guided tours. Prices in 2022 are adult £12, child £6, conc £9, plus £3 for parking. "Passports" are valid for single entry within 12 months, but 3-4 hours is enough to get around the place. Annie Macleod Experience is a theme-park buggy ride where CGI-Annie describes working life in the mills. People, Cotton & Machinery displays cotton production, from hot plantation fields to the noisy mill. There's an original Spinning Mule at work, nowadays on wool. Millworkers' Houses are furnished as in the 1820s. Mill Manager Robert Owen's House (open from 11AM) is rather more spacious and comfortable. The Village Store aimed to give workers value for money in their daily supplies. The Classroom was Scotland's first infant school, and provided comprehensive education to all age groups. The Roof Garden continues the ethos of healthy environment, healthy minds and bodies, productive workforce. The waterwheel, prime mover of every heavy task in the village, is towards the upper end of main street.

thumb | 300px | Fan belts drive the machinery are a series of waterfalls along the steeply descending river. Three of them are just above the mill complex, and are easily reached by a short walk upstream. A hydroelectric power station nowaday…

Do

The Clyde Walkway and cycle track runs along the Clyde for 40 miles from Glasgow (Partick) via Cambuslang, Strathclyde Country Park, Cardies Bridge and Crossford to New Lanark. The final 7-mile section is the most scenic, passing Stonybyres hydroelectric Power Station and 21-m falls, Lanark, New Lanark Mills, Bonnington hydroelectric power Station and the three upper Falls of Clyde, ending at Bonnington Linn.

Buy

The gift shop is open daily 10AM-5PM.

Eat

There is a cafeteria in one of the mills and a restaurant in the Mill Hotel in mill one. The hotel restaurant is the only place open in the evening, see Lanark for other options.

Drink

thumb | 300px | Corra Linn Mill Cafe is open daily 11AM-4PM.

Sleep

See Lanark for accommodation in the nearby town.

Connect

As of Oct 2022, New Lanark and the approach road from Lanark have 4G from EE, Three and Vodafone but no signal from O2. 5G has not reached this area.

Go next

Follow A70 west towards Alloway near Ayr, birthplace of Robert Burns. East, head via Biggar into the Tweed valley and Scottish Borders, with fine ruined abbeys at Melrose, Jedburgh and Kelso. Glasgow and Edinburgh are just over an hour away.