New Lanark's Twin

 

Stanley Mills

New Lanark mills has a twin. A cotton mill built at the same time, by many of the same people and using the same Richard Arkwright water powered machines.

Arkwright was instrumental in the development of the spinning frame and the carding engine. These machines were highly productive but expensive and needed water power to operate. Arkwright moved cotton production out of the cottage and into his main invention, the cotton mill. He built the first one at Cromford in Derbyshire. This still exists but, despite its historic importance, is not a UNESCO World Heritage site.

In the early 1780s he came to Scotland to establish some new cotton mills in partnership with David Dale and others.

New Lanark was built to use the water power of the Clyde. On the other side of the country Stanley Mills were built eight miles north of Perth to use the water power of the Tay. 

Stanley and the Tay.

Arkwright was also involved in establishing the Woodside Mill in Aberdeen. That opened in 1785 and had 3000 employees at its peak. It closed in 1850. New Lanark operated from 1786 to 1968. Stanley from 1787 to 1989. 

Stanley

Stanley’s layout and buildings are very similar to New Lanark as can be seen from the images. 

 

But New Lanark is a UNESCO World Heritage site and Stanley is not. What are the differences?

In Stanley the workers housing is further away from the mills than at New Lanark, in a separate village. Dale had to squeeze mills and housing into a very small site.

Stanley has been restored and is sustained in a very different way to New Lanark. One mill has been converted to an excellent museum. Two other mills have been turned into flats. At the time of writing a three bedroom flat was on the market for £210,000.

In New Lanark the workers housing was in a poor condition and the council provided money to restore some buildings as social housing. The result was that the village now has 45 low rent flats and houses. In effect, New Lanark became a council estate. Only when the local authority money dried up was private finance brought in to restore Braxfield, Long and Double rows.

The main difference between the two mills is that New Lanark had Robert Owen’s social experiments and Stanley did not. It was the community that Owen created that earned that it its World Heritage status not its buildings.

There are three important factors; architecture, history and community. Stanley and New Lanark have the same architecture. New Lanark is not unique. Comford was the start of the factory system and is more historically significant. 

Cromford

 

What made New Lanark worthy of World Heritage status is that it had Owen and his community experiments. A school, decent housing and care of orphans. Most importantly he demonstrated that you did not have to treat your workers badly to make a profit.

Owen used silent monitors to motivate workers

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The New Lanark Trust under the control of Jim Arnold and Harry Smith restored many of New Lanark’s buildings. They also destroyed much of the community spirit with their secretive and authoritarian  behavior.

It’s time for a change. The New Lanark Trust should not receive any more funding until it demonstrates that it is making genuine efforts to restore the village community.