by Maureen Laing
Sunday 8th June saw a small group of DHS members gather in Leys Park Road car park, board a small coach and head south west to Garrion Bridges Garden and Antiques Centre for our first stop on this year’s summer trip. We were served hot drinks and scones before spending a pleasant hour perusing the garden centre, antiques, bric-a-brac and shopping outlets. Next stop, New Lanark World Heritage Site and the Falls of Clyde.
A brief history
In the late 18th Century, David Dale, a Glasgow businessman, and Robert Arkwright, the inventor of the water-powered spinning frame, founded a cotton spinning village just downstream from the Falls of Clyde. Mill 1 was completed in 1785, Mills 2 and 3 followed. Accommodation for the factory workers and their families, many from the Highlands, was built over the next decade.
Robert Owen, a young Manchester based mill manager, visited New Lanark, where met and married David Dale’s eldest daughter Caroline. Around 1800, in partnership with two others, he purchased New Lanark from his father-in-law and assumed management of the mills and village. He expanded the factory, adding mechanics workshops and dye works. He then began to transform the lives of the mill workers and their families by introducing social, moral, educational and workplace reforms. He established a village shop that sold quality goods at fair prices, opened the centrepiece of his social experiment, The Institute for the Formation of Character, which was used as a social and educational centre for the villagers, and established the School for Children.
Owen left New Lanark around 1825 and eventually sold it to Charles and Henry Walker who ran the company until 1881.It is then sold to the Gourock Ropework Co who continued to operate from the site until 1968. They received the Saltire Society Award for their maintenance of the village.
New Lanark Conservation Trust was formed with the aim of restoring and revitalising New Lanark. This work has been successfully completed in the last few years. The Visitor centre is very popular and the original accommodation has been modernised and occupied.
The Falls of Clyde is part of the Clyde Valley woodlands Nature Reserve. It is famous for its spectacular waterfalls and scenic woodland walks. Over 100 bird species have been recorded, while badgers forage in the undergrowth and otters are sometimes seen along the riverbank.
The Falls of Clyde
As you can see, there was plenty for everyone to see and do in the three hours or so that we spent at New Lanark. The history and buildings are fascinating, with the mill buildings, reconstructed shop and school, Robert Owen’s House, and other buildings open to visitors. For the more energetic, we had perfect weather for a walk along the Falls of Clyde Trail. Finally we all had a very enjoyable afternoon tea in the luxurious New Lanark Hotel, before a comfortable, sleepy journey back to Dunfermline.