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

.

 

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.

Gone but not forgotten

Here is the village photograph from 1985. 

 

 We started a project to put names to faces. The first step was to copy the photograph and number everybody.  

 Then several people helped in the identification process. That produced the following list.

The tables show the surnames that people had in 1985. That is because those names might appear in other documents and photographs held by the NL Trust and others.

New Lanark was a very different place then.

The village still had a strong community spirit and villagers organised a range of activities. These included the annual games on the Caithness Row green, meals and dances in the church, coach trips, walks and many others. See this post.

Several of the 75 people in the photograph had worked in the mills until they closed in 1966.

Five of the people in the photograph still live in the village but most have gone to a better place, or Lanark.

Who is missing? Who lived in the village in 1985 but is not in the photograph?

I know of the following

Alveys - 1 Braxfield Row
Kellys - 2 Braxfield Row
Rances - Long Row [still in village]
Hardies  - 4 Braxfield Row

Please leave a comment if you have any additions or corrections.

Note - photographs from 1989 and 2000 are in an earlier post.

The New Lanark community cooperative

 In 1985 the residents of New Lanark tried to form a cooperative to operate a small cafe for visitors. The cafe would have been in the two-storey building next to the Wildlife Trust premises. At the time the village did not have any catering facilities for visitors.

The scheme had the backing of fifty-nine residents and funding from Strathclyde Community Business. It would have created ten part time jobs and been under the control of the village community. It would also have created a healthy annual surplus for community projects.

The only suitable property [like almost all land and buildings in the village] is controlled by the New Lanark Conservation Trust and they refused to give a lease.

The scheme therefor failed.

The following article appeared in the Glasgow Herald on the 24th January 1985.

The article quoted Harry Smith saying the Trust would open a restaurant on the same common good basis as the cooperative. It certainly opened a restaurant but as a commercial operation with its profits going to the Trust. There was no “common good” element.

Scotland Direct did not open a “gourmet restaurant” and the company left the village years ago when it got cheaper premises elsewhere.

In 1993 the Trust was host to the Cooperative Movement on International CO-OP Day and a smirking Jim Arnold made much of New Lanark’s role in the founding of the cooperative movement.

William Hardie

Bill Hardie of 4 Braxfield Row died in hospital on Friday the 22nd January 2021. 

Bill and Gillian Hardy came to New Lanark in 1979. They had probably lived in New Lanark longer than anyone currently resident. 

Bill and his four brothers grew up in the west of Scotland. He became Deputy Director of Dundee Art Gallery. In 1977 he moved to become a director of Christies in Glasgow and set up their Scottish Picture Department. 

He was an acknowledged expert on Scottish art and published 'Scottish Painting: 1837 to the Present' in 1994 [second edition 2010] and 'Glasgow Boys in Your Pocket' in 2010. In 1984 he started his own art gallery in Glasgow and organised many exhibitions. 

Bill travelled extensively to promote Scottish art and claimed to have spent more than a year in Japan over the course of over 40 visits. He was well known in the national and international art world. In 2017 he published his autobiography; 'Gallery: A Life in Art'. 

Bill and Gillie had two children. Andrew lives in Bristol and works as a teacher. Marion has lived in the village for several years with her daughter Evie and works as a nurse.

Inside Double Row

Double Row is a block of eight back to back tenement houses. The river facing side of the row was sometimes referred to as Water Row.

Numbers seven and eight are five storey. The others are four storey. When they were built there would have been two families on each floor. That meant the five storey houses would each have housed ten families at the front and ten at the back. The complete row would have accommodated 136 families. There are thick stone walls between each house but only floorboards and thin plaster walls inside. There would have been a lot of noise and little privacy. Back to back housing was cheaper to build but they were unhealthy places.

Water Row in 1903

 There used to be a water powered cotton mill in Blantyre, south east of Glasgow. Only one housing block remains and this is maintained as the David Livingstone Birthplace Museum. In addition to the Livingstone memorabilia the museum has a room set out as it would have been when an entire family lived in a single room.

In the early years New Lanark mill workers  would have lived in very similar rooms.

For many years Double Row lay derelict as the Trust under Harry Smith wanted to restore it as multi occupancy tenanted housing. The problem was that nobody would give them the money for the restoration.

External work on Double Row

 Finally, it was decided to sell off seven of the houses as single occupancy dwellings. The problem with the original plan was that with, say, two families in each house car parking would have been a real problem [14 families x 1-2 cars per family = too many cars.

Number Seven is being kept as a museum. It is not clear if it is owned by the New Lanark Trust or some national conservation body. When Double Row was being prepared for sale work was done on the roofs and external stonework. However, nothing as been done to the interior of number seven and it is in a very poor state, as can be seen from the photographs.

A scandal in New Lanark

When this article appeared in the Glasgow Herald it split the village. Some supported Mr. Arnold. Some had their opinion of Mr. Arnold confirmed. Many did not get to read the article because on the day the article appeared someone went up to Lanark and bought up all the copies of the Herald.

Braxfield Row and the Hanging Judge

How did Braxfield Row get its name?

Long Row is the longest row and Wee Row the shortest. Double Row provided back to back housing and Nursery Buildings housed orphans. Caithness Row got its name from the highlanders who were persuaded to work in the New Lanark Mills instead of emigrating. New Buildings was new [in 1791].

Braxfield Row is the odd one out because it bears the name of a very nasty psychopathic alcoholic.

Filming in New Lanark

Ten photographs from when the village square and Rosedale Street were used as film sets. I think it was the BBC that was doing the filming but I don't know the name of the production or the date. Does anybody have any more information?

Trust v Tenants?

Readers of this blog will be aware of the current dispute between the Trust and some residents. The Trust wants to close NL Homes and bring its 45 tenancies directly under their control. It is not clear if their opponents want to maintain the status quo or negotiate some compromise  arrangement.

Facts

In 1968 the Gourock Rope Company announced the closure of the mills with the loss of  350 jobs. By 1970 there were only 80 people living in the village. In 1974 the New Lanark Conservation Trust was formed. The village buildings were in a very bad condition and faced restoration or demolition.

Public money was provided for the restoration of Caithness Row, Nursery Buildings and New Buildings on the condition that they be used to provide low cost accommodation. That produced 45 tenanted properties.

Recently the Trust has taken three of those properties for commercial purposes. Two are to be used to provide accommodation for hotel employees and the third is to be rented on the open market at commercial rates [Airbnb?].

Trouble at New Lanark Homes

 A REQUEST FOR REMOVAL

We have received a request for the removal of the letter below. If anybody wants this post removed [or wishes to contest the factual accuracy of its contents] they are welcome to post a comment setting out their case.

It should be noted that copies of the letter were circulated to all residents and its contents discussed at the village meeting of the 22nd July.

A letter from the three directors of New Lanark Homes

Dear Resident,

The Future of Housing in New Lanark: Residents’ Meeting
New Lanark Hotel at 7.00 p.m. on Monday 22 July

We are writing to you as Directors of New Lanark Homes because there are important changes being made by the New Lanark Trust that you should know about.

New Lanark Homes manages the 45 properties in the village that are currently let to people in need at affordable rents.

It is the only charitable subsidiary of the New Lanark Trust, and the only decision-making body in the village that is required to recruit tenants and residents as Directors.

This week tenants received a letter from the Chief Executive of the New Lanark Trust in which he states that New Lanark Trust has resolved to close down New Lanark Homes, to transfer its assets to the Trust, and to make decisions on letting and rent setting itself.

In his letter, he presented these changes as being minor and of a purely administrative nature.

We do not share this view.

We have good reason to expect that over time these changes could have far reaching impacts on tenants and even threaten New Lanark as a community that is open to people to live in, regardless of their means.

It is our duty as Directors of New Lanark Homes to outline the possible implications of this change:

The specific charitable objective of New Lanark Homes to help people in housing need will be lost.
The Trust would be free to let empty properties at market rents, rather than to people who are on the housing list at affordable rents.
The rents of current tenants could be increased until they reach market levels.
The reserves of New Lanark Homes (currently in excess of £200,000) will be transferred to the New Lanark Trust, which could use them to support its general business, rather than to repair and modernise the housing.

In a letter dated 24 June, the Chief Executive of the New Lanark Trust wrote:

“I am considering a proposal to the Trust that vacant properties, and/or properties falling vacant in future, might be offered at commercial rates, and that occupied properties might, in the future, be subject to rent increases more in line with the commercial market.”

Already three properties which have been available to let to families in housing need since at least January have been kept empty on the instruction of the Chief Executive of the New Lanark Trust.

We understand that these properties are now going to be “market tested”, which means let on the open market to find out what market rents could be achieved.

We are disappointed that the New Lanark Trust initiated these changes without allowing the Directors of New Lanark Homes to see any detailed proposal or justification presented to the Trustees, or even to attend the meeting where the decision was made.

We also believe that it was wrong of the Chief Executive to make such important changes without any form of prior consultation with residents.

The Committee of the Village Group shares our concerns and has decided to arrange a meeting at which these developments can be discussed, and any action agreed.

We are pleased that the Director of the New Lanark Trust has agreed to attend, or to send a representative in his place.

The meeting will be held at the New Lanark Hotel at 7.00 p.m. on Monday 22 July.

We very much hope that tenants and other residents who value New Lanark as a community that offers a home to people regardless of their means will attend.

Yours sincerely





Janice Glover            Maureen McCulloch         Prof. Mark Stephens
Director                     Director                             Director
New Lanark Homes  New Lanark Homes           New Lanark Homes
9 Nursery Buildings  13 Long Row                     Mid Lodge, Bonnington
New Lanark               New Lanark                       Lanark

The lost social life of New Lanark

Newcomers may not realise how much of the village's social life has been lost.

One of the events was the village games which used to be held on the Caithness Row green.

Ladies three legged race

Ladies sack race

Who lives in New Lanark?

The New Lanark Trust [NLT] manages 45 rented properties. Some are currently unoccupied. Most of the rented properties are in New Buildings, Nursery Buildings and Caithness Row. There are four NLT rented houses in Long Row.

Braxfield Row has ten owner occupied houses.

 
Long Row has ten owner occupied houses, two of which are currently privately owned but unoccupied.
 

Double Row has seven houses. One is occupied, four have been sold but are not occupied and two are unsold. An eight house is in its original condition and may become a museum.

There are forty two [71%] households living in rented houses or flats owned and managed by the NLT.

There are seventeen households [29%] living in properties they own, or rent from an absent owner.

Who pays for the village TV aerial?

The NLVG is responsible for maintaining the village's TV aerial and cable network. To fund any work that is required they collect an annual  fee of £35 for each unit which can receive a signal.

The hotel pays 49 fees for TVs in  the hotel, waterhouses and hostel.

New Lanark Holmes pays 45 fees for their tenanted properties. The fee is collected from tenants in their rent.

Last year we had twenty privately owned properties in Braxfield Row, Long Row and Double Row which could receive the TV signal. One property in Braxfield Row was not connected to the system.

One of the twenty was not asked to pay because it provides electrical power for part of the system.

Two properties are vacant.
 
Twelve properties paid.

Five Braxfield Row properties did not pay. At least one Braxfield Row property did not pay because it did not use the signal.

The NLVG's aerial fund has a balance of £24,263 in July 2019 with a further  £2,000+ yet to be received.

Note - the NLVG is only responsible for the TV system. It has nothing to do with the telephone/internet system. That is the responsibility of BT and other telephone/internet providers.

Village residents

Villagers in 1985

Villagers in 1989

This website has launched a project to try and put names to these faces.

Villagers in 2019

Some of the villagers and guests at the NL Village Group get together on Friday the 23rd August in the NL Mill Hotel. The party was organised by Lorna Grant [Long Row], the Social Secretary of the NLVG. Catering was provided by the Mill Hotel. All village residents were welcome.

Village management

 New Lanark Trust Management Plan 2019-2023     Link

We invite your comments on the following questions.

What should the Trust do to improve village life?

What are the main issues facing people living in the village?

Toxic waste dumping in New Lanark

The Trust is investigating the possibility that toxic waste was dumped at the Clearburn site in the 1980/90s. It is assumed that the material dumped at this site came from the clearance of the Metal Extractions works by Mill One.

This is the area above the children's play area. The village bonfire and fireworks display were held on the site.

Update June 2020

No action has been taken to investigate toxic leakage from the site.

Village History

We will be making regular postings of stories and photographs from the past. Do you have any you could contribute?

The mill area when it was controlled by Metal Extractions. Note the Second World War air raid shelters [now demolished] and the two men working on restoring Dale's House. Also Mill One before it was demolished.

Repairing Caithness Row

 Note the building to the right. It is now an ugly pair of garages. What were its previous uses?

Rosedale Street

None of the residents of New Lanark own any land outside their dwellings. All the land in the village [apart from the public road] is owned and managed by the Trust. This website wants to ensure that, in future, the land in the residential areas gets the same level of attention as the land around the mills.

Rosedale Street

The road surface is in a very poor condition and has been so for several decades. The condition affects the value of the Rosedale Street houses and makes them difficult to sell. It may be reducing the value of each Long Row and Double Row house by as much as £20,000. There are also issues with noise, dirt and damage to vehicles.

The NLVG AGM was given information on the Trust's plans for the next few years. It was clear that the surfacing of Rosedale Street is a low priority item. It is unlikely that the work will begin this year and may be delayed beyond 2020. The Trust was unable to make any commitment on the standard of the work that would be undertaken.

We believe that Rosedale Street must be surfaced to the  same standard as the public road into the village and not just consist of another dump of chippings.

Update

At its May 2019 meeting Scott McCauley, the Trust's Chief Executive, promised the NLVG that the surfacing of Rosedale Street would be completed by the end of this year and that the surfacing would be to the same standard as the public road into the village. It is not yet clear if the work would be done by the Trust or following the council's adoption of the road.

The first step will be to complete the utilities connections to all the Double Row houses.