New Lanark
New Lanark is a small 18th- century village set in a sublime Scottish landscape where the philanthropist and Utopian idealist Robert Owen moulded a model industrial community in the early 19th century. The imposing cotton mill buildings, the spacious and well-designed workers' housing, and the dignified educational institute and school still testify to Owen's humanism.
New Lanark is a small 18th- century village set in a sublime Scottish landscape where the philanthropist and Utopian idealist Robert Owen moulded a model industrial community in the early 19th century. The imposing cotton mill buildings, the spacious and well-designed workers' housing, and the dignified educational institute and school still testify to Owen's humanism.
Outstanding Universal Value
Brief synthesis
New Lanark is an exceptional example of a purpose-built 18th century mill village, set in a picturesque Scottish landscape near the Falls of Clyde, where in the early years of the 19th century, the Utopian idealist Robert Owen (1771-1858) inspired a model industrial community based on textile production. It was there that Owen first applied his form of benevolent paternalism in industry, building on the altruistic actions of his father-in-law, David Dale. It was there, too, that he formulated his Utopian vision of a society without crime, poverty, and misery. New Lanark prospered under his enlightened management.
The village was founded in 1785, and the cotton mills, powered by water-wheels, were operational from 1786 to 1968. At the turn of the 19th century the mill buildings formed one of the largest industrial groups in the world.
The creation of the model industrial settlement at New Lanark, in which planning and architecture were integrated with a humane concern on the part of the employers for the well-being of the workers, is a milestone in social and industrial history. The moral, social and environmental values which underpinned Robert Owen's work at New Lanark provided the basis for seminal material and intangible developments that have had lasting influences on society over the past two hundred years.
New Lanark is a unique reminder that the creation of wealth does not automatically imply the degradation of its producers. The village offered a cultural response to the challenges presented by industrial society and was the test-bed for ideas that sought to improve the human condition around the world. The nature and layout of New Lanark inspired other benevolent industrialists to follow his example, and this movement laid the foundations for the work of Ebenezer Howard (1850-1928) in creating the concept of the Garden City. The social and economic systems that Owen developed were considered radical in his own time but are now widely accepted in modern society.
The imposing mill buildings, the spacious and well designed workers' housing, and the dignified educational institute and school still survive to testify to Owen's humanism.
Criterion (ii): When Richard Arkwright’s new factory system for textile production was brought to New Lanark the need to provide housing and other facilities for the workers and managers was recognised. It was there that David Dale and Robert Owen created a model for industrial communities that was to spread across the world in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Criterion (iv): New Lanark saw the construction not only of well designed and equipped workers’ housing but also public buildings designed to improve their spiritual as well as their physical needs.
Criterion (vi): The name of New Lanark is synonymous with that of Robert Owen and his social philosophy in matters such as progressive education, factory reform, humane working practices, international cooperation, and garden cities, which was to have a profound influence on social developments throughout the 19th century and beyond.
Integrity
The property encompasses all of the elements necessary to clearly express its Outstanding Universal Value and ensure complete representation of the property’s significance. The appearance of the buildings of the village is now close to that of the early nineteenth century, during Owen’s management, based on the physical evidence, archaeology, graphic and written archive material available. In restoring the village to its historic state, some later 20th century structures have been removed to focus on those elements that contributed to the property’s Outstanding Universal Value.
Authenticity
The level of authenticity at New Lanark is high. The process of conservation and rehabilitation has now been in progress for almost half a century, and major projects continue to the present day. The village has seen little change from its heyday of cotton production in the early nineteenth century. Where elements are missing or have been replaced, the property is clearly interpreted to reflect this. Where rebuilding or reconstruction have been necessary, this has been carried out to the best conservation standards, based on full historic records. Repair and restoration has been undertaken using appropriate traditional materials and workmanship, following original designs wherever possible, and always respecting existing historic fabric. The original weir, lade and waterways which provided water-power to the mills from the 1780s are still in use today.
Protection and management requirements
World Heritage properties in Scotland are protected through the following legislation. The Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 and The Planning etc. (Scotland) Act 2006 provide a framework for local and regional planning policy and act as the principal primary legislation guiding planning and development in Scotland. Additionally, individual buildings, monuments and areas of special archaeological or historic interest are designated and protected under The Planning (Listed Building and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 and the 1979 Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act.
The Scottish Historic Environment Policy (SHEP) is the primary policy guidance on the protection and management of the historic environment in Scotland. Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) sits alongside the SHEP and is the Government’s national planning policy on the historic environment. It provides for the protection of World Heritage properties by considering the impact of development on the Outstanding Universal Value, authenticity and integrity.
The management of the World Heritage property New Lanark is the responsibility of its three main partners: South Lanarkshire Council, Historic Scotland and the New Lanark Trust. The New Lanark Management Plan is endorsed and strategically overseen by the management partners, who also assume responsibility for its implementation.
The sustainable management of tourism at New Lanark is addressed in the Management Plan. The Partnership Group, through the implementation of the Management Plan, ensures that present and future tourism within the property is developed in an environmentally and economically sustainable way for the benefit of the local community.
Long Description
When Richard Arkwright's new factory system for textile production was brought to New Lanark the need to provide housing and other facilities for the workers and managers was recognized. It was there that Robert Owen created a model for industrial communities that was to spread across the world in the 19th and 20th centuries. New Lanark saw the construction not only of well designed and equipped workers' housing but also public buildings designed to improve their spiritual as well as their physical needs. It has the most complete integration of architectural design of all the early cotton mill settlements, a type illustrating the most revolutionary element of the Industrial Revolution. The buildings and water-power system express the extension to the outermost limits of the application of materials and techniques to the new industrial age.
The name of New Lanark is synonymous with Owen and his social philosophy in matters such as progressive education, factory reform, humane working practices, international cooperation, and garden cities, which was to have a profound influence on social developments throughout the 19th century and beyond. Owenism, utopianism, philanthropy, cooperation, communitarianism, industrial capitalism, concepts of the sublime landscape, and models for modern conservation partnerships were all shaped at New Lanark.
New Lanark is a small village in a beautiful Scottish landscape. In 1783 Richard Arkwright came to Scotland and met David Dale a leading West of Scotland linen yarn merchant and Glasgow agent of the Royal Bank of Scotland. In 1785, to take advantage of the cotton-spinning patents secured, Arkwright founded New Lanark, which allowed yarn to be spun in water-powered mills on an unprecedented scale.
The first mill at New Lanark went into production in 1786. Housing had to be provided for the workers. Owing to the restricted site in the gorge of the River Clyde, this was built in the form of blocks three or four storeys in height. The houses were superior in quality to those general occupied by working people at that time. Dale was a humane employer, who treated his workers well, and he established also a school 10 years later.
In 1799 a partnership was formed by Robert Owen, a Welsh cotton spinner, who had married Dale's daughter. Owen tightened up the management of the mill. He began to remodel the village around 1809. Owen's philanthropic and idealistic vision of a society without crime, poverty, and misery had a wide appeal in the years following the Napoleonic Wars. Owen left it in 1828, although he continued to develop and promote his ideas until his death in 1858.
Between 1785 and 1968, new buildings were constructed, others were demolished or destroyed by fire, and many underwent radical changes in use, but the appearance of the village is now very close to that of its heyday, the first half of the 19th century.
The model industrial settlement is a phenomenon of the Enlightenment: consideration must also be given to the influence of Owen on later industrialists and planners in the United Kingdom. The nature and layout of New Lanark inspired other benevolent industrialists to follow his example, and this movement laid the foundations for the work of Ebenezer Howard in creating the concept of the Garden City.
Today the village provides physical evidence of Robert Owen's model for a New Moral World. New Lanark is a great landscape modified, through the medium of architecture, to meet the needs and vision of a pioneer working community. Contrast and variety are given by individual buildings, but the theme remains good proportion, good masonry, and simplicity of detail. This common building language produces a monumental unity of character remarkably suited to convey today the idealistic message of Dale and Owen.
Source: UNESCO/CLT/WHC
Historical Description
New Lanark was founded in 1785 to take advantage of the cotton-spinning patents secured by Richard Arkwright, which allowed yarn to be spun in water-powered mills on an unprecedented scale. Arkwright came to Scotland in 1783 and met David Dale, a leading West of Scotland linen yarn merchant and Glasgow agent of the Royal Bank of Scotland. The splendid latent water power at New Lanark led to Dale to undertake development on his own, and with the quashing of Arkwright's patents in 1785 his involvement ceased.
The first mill at New Lanark went into production in 1786 and was soon followed by another. Dale continued to build, the third and fourth mills being designed for Samuel Crompton's mule, which was capable of spinning finer yarn than Arkwright's frame. The fourth mill was not used for spinning in Dale's time, housing instead child apprentices and a mechanics' shop.
Housing had to be provided for the workers. Owing to the restricted site in the gorge of the river Clyde, this was built in the form of blocks three or four storeys in height rather than the two-storey buildings favoured at other Scottish cotton mills. The houses were superior in quality to those general occupied by working people at that time. Rapid technical changes led to increases in the workforce and so new houses were added, the last in 1798 (known as "New Buildings").
Dale was a humane employer, who treated his workers well. He established a school in New Lanark which by 1796 had eighteen teachers for 510 pupils. As the most successful cotton spinner in Scotland his was an important example.
In 1799 a partnership was formed by Robert Owen, a Welsh cotton spinner, who had married Dale's daughter. Owen tightened up the management of the mill, introducing new standards of book-keeping and factory discipline. He began to remodel the village around 1809. The fourth mill was brought into production, a house being built for the apprentices as well as a foundry and machine shops.
Owen became convinced that by treating his workers as being responsible for their actions and by encouraging them to realize their mutual dependence productivity would rise and a community spirit would develop. He also realized that an educated workforce was more likely to achieve his objectives, and so in 1809 he began the construction of his "New Institution for the Formation of Character." He failed to get the support of his partners for this project, but after several changes in the partnership the building was finally opened in 1816; a school was added in the following year.
Because of its location, on the route from Lanark to the famous Falls of Clyde, the mills became one of the features of a tour of Scotland. Contact with distinguished visitor and a high level of public consciousness widened Owen's ideas. His vision of a society without crime, poverty, and misery had a wide appeal in the years following the Napoleonic Wars, and he was encouraged by this to write and to travel widely to promote his views. In 1824 a bitter quarrel with his partners over his educational methods led him to leave New Lanark to develop a community at New Harmony, Indiana (USA), on the cooperative lines that he had described in his influential Report to the County of Lanark (1820). This community failed because it lacked the central focus provided by a disciplined factory and Owen left it in 1828, though he continued to develop and promote his ideas until his death in 1858.
The mill was sold by the surviving partners to the Walker brothers in 1828 and they continued to spin cotton until they sold it in 1881 to a partnership which introduced net-making and canvas weaving. From them it passed to the Gourock Ropework Company, the world's largest rope and net producers, who made cotton canvas and nets there until 1968.
Source: UNESCO/CLT/WHC
Share Thread Share your opinion interested
Brief synthesis
New Lanark is an exceptional example of a purpose-built 18th century mill village, set in a picturesque Scottish landscape near the Falls of Clyde, where in the early years of the 19th century, the Utopian idealist Robert Owen (1771-1858) inspired a model industrial community based on textile production. It was there that Owen first applied his form of benevolent paternalism in industry, building on the altruistic actions of his father-in-law, David Dale. It was there, too, that he formulated his Utopian vision of a society without crime, poverty, and misery. New Lanark prospered under his enlightened management.
The village was founded in 1785, and the cotton mills, powered by water-wheels, were operational from 1786 to 1968. At the turn of the 19th century the mill buildings formed one of the largest industrial groups in the world.
The creation of the model industrial settlement at New Lanark, in which planning and architecture were integrated with a humane concern on the part of the employers for the well-being of the workers, is a milestone in social and industrial history. The moral, social and environmental values which underpinned Robert Owen's work at New Lanark provided the basis for seminal material and intangible developments that have had lasting influences on society over the past two hundred years.
New Lanark is a unique reminder that the creation of wealth does not automatically imply the degradation of its producers. The village offered a cultural response to the challenges presented by industrial society and was the test-bed for ideas that sought to improve the human condition around the world. The nature and layout of New Lanark inspired other benevolent industrialists to follow his example, and this movement laid the foundations for the work of Ebenezer Howard (1850-1928) in creating the concept of the Garden City. The social and economic systems that Owen developed were considered radical in his own time but are now widely accepted in modern society.
The imposing mill buildings, the spacious and well designed workers' housing, and the dignified educational institute and school still survive to testify to Owen's humanism.
Criterion (ii): When Richard Arkwright’s new factory system for textile production was brought to New Lanark the need to provide housing and other facilities for the workers and managers was recognised. It was there that David Dale and Robert Owen created a model for industrial communities that was to spread across the world in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Criterion (iv): New Lanark saw the construction not only of well designed and equipped workers’ housing but also public buildings designed to improve their spiritual as well as their physical needs.
Criterion (vi): The name of New Lanark is synonymous with that of Robert Owen and his social philosophy in matters such as progressive education, factory reform, humane working practices, international cooperation, and garden cities, which was to have a profound influence on social developments throughout the 19th century and beyond.
Integrity
The property encompasses all of the elements necessary to clearly express its Outstanding Universal Value and ensure complete representation of the property’s significance. The appearance of the buildings of the village is now close to that of the early nineteenth century, during Owen’s management, based on the physical evidence, archaeology, graphic and written archive material available. In restoring the village to its historic state, some later 20th century structures have been removed to focus on those elements that contributed to the property’s Outstanding Universal Value.
Authenticity
The level of authenticity at New Lanark is high. The process of conservation and rehabilitation has now been in progress for almost half a century, and major projects continue to the present day. The village has seen little change from its heyday of cotton production in the early nineteenth century. Where elements are missing or have been replaced, the property is clearly interpreted to reflect this. Where rebuilding or reconstruction have been necessary, this has been carried out to the best conservation standards, based on full historic records. Repair and restoration has been undertaken using appropriate traditional materials and workmanship, following original designs wherever possible, and always respecting existing historic fabric. The original weir, lade and waterways which provided water-power to the mills from the 1780s are still in use today.
Protection and management requirements
World Heritage properties in Scotland are protected through the following legislation. The Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 and The Planning etc. (Scotland) Act 2006 provide a framework for local and regional planning policy and act as the principal primary legislation guiding planning and development in Scotland. Additionally, individual buildings, monuments and areas of special archaeological or historic interest are designated and protected under The Planning (Listed Building and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 and the 1979 Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act.
The Scottish Historic Environment Policy (SHEP) is the primary policy guidance on the protection and management of the historic environment in Scotland. Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) sits alongside the SHEP and is the Government’s national planning policy on the historic environment. It provides for the protection of World Heritage properties by considering the impact of development on the Outstanding Universal Value, authenticity and integrity.
The management of the World Heritage property New Lanark is the responsibility of its three main partners: South Lanarkshire Council, Historic Scotland and the New Lanark Trust. The New Lanark Management Plan is endorsed and strategically overseen by the management partners, who also assume responsibility for its implementation.
The sustainable management of tourism at New Lanark is addressed in the Management Plan. The Partnership Group, through the implementation of the Management Plan, ensures that present and future tourism within the property is developed in an environmentally and economically sustainable way for the benefit of the local community.
Long Description
When Richard Arkwright's new factory system for textile production was brought to New Lanark the need to provide housing and other facilities for the workers and managers was recognized. It was there that Robert Owen created a model for industrial communities that was to spread across the world in the 19th and 20th centuries. New Lanark saw the construction not only of well designed and equipped workers' housing but also public buildings designed to improve their spiritual as well as their physical needs. It has the most complete integration of architectural design of all the early cotton mill settlements, a type illustrating the most revolutionary element of the Industrial Revolution. The buildings and water-power system express the extension to the outermost limits of the application of materials and techniques to the new industrial age.
The name of New Lanark is synonymous with Owen and his social philosophy in matters such as progressive education, factory reform, humane working practices, international cooperation, and garden cities, which was to have a profound influence on social developments throughout the 19th century and beyond. Owenism, utopianism, philanthropy, cooperation, communitarianism, industrial capitalism, concepts of the sublime landscape, and models for modern conservation partnerships were all shaped at New Lanark.
New Lanark is a small village in a beautiful Scottish landscape. In 1783 Richard Arkwright came to Scotland and met David Dale a leading West of Scotland linen yarn merchant and Glasgow agent of the Royal Bank of Scotland. In 1785, to take advantage of the cotton-spinning patents secured, Arkwright founded New Lanark, which allowed yarn to be spun in water-powered mills on an unprecedented scale.
The first mill at New Lanark went into production in 1786. Housing had to be provided for the workers. Owing to the restricted site in the gorge of the River Clyde, this was built in the form of blocks three or four storeys in height. The houses were superior in quality to those general occupied by working people at that time. Dale was a humane employer, who treated his workers well, and he established also a school 10 years later.
In 1799 a partnership was formed by Robert Owen, a Welsh cotton spinner, who had married Dale's daughter. Owen tightened up the management of the mill. He began to remodel the village around 1809. Owen's philanthropic and idealistic vision of a society without crime, poverty, and misery had a wide appeal in the years following the Napoleonic Wars. Owen left it in 1828, although he continued to develop and promote his ideas until his death in 1858.
Between 1785 and 1968, new buildings were constructed, others were demolished or destroyed by fire, and many underwent radical changes in use, but the appearance of the village is now very close to that of its heyday, the first half of the 19th century.
The model industrial settlement is a phenomenon of the Enlightenment: consideration must also be given to the influence of Owen on later industrialists and planners in the United Kingdom. The nature and layout of New Lanark inspired other benevolent industrialists to follow his example, and this movement laid the foundations for the work of Ebenezer Howard in creating the concept of the Garden City.
Today the village provides physical evidence of Robert Owen's model for a New Moral World. New Lanark is a great landscape modified, through the medium of architecture, to meet the needs and vision of a pioneer working community. Contrast and variety are given by individual buildings, but the theme remains good proportion, good masonry, and simplicity of detail. This common building language produces a monumental unity of character remarkably suited to convey today the idealistic message of Dale and Owen.
Source: UNESCO/CLT/WHC
Historical Description
New Lanark was founded in 1785 to take advantage of the cotton-spinning patents secured by Richard Arkwright, which allowed yarn to be spun in water-powered mills on an unprecedented scale. Arkwright came to Scotland in 1783 and met David Dale, a leading West of Scotland linen yarn merchant and Glasgow agent of the Royal Bank of Scotland. The splendid latent water power at New Lanark led to Dale to undertake development on his own, and with the quashing of Arkwright's patents in 1785 his involvement ceased.
The first mill at New Lanark went into production in 1786 and was soon followed by another. Dale continued to build, the third and fourth mills being designed for Samuel Crompton's mule, which was capable of spinning finer yarn than Arkwright's frame. The fourth mill was not used for spinning in Dale's time, housing instead child apprentices and a mechanics' shop.
Housing had to be provided for the workers. Owing to the restricted site in the gorge of the river Clyde, this was built in the form of blocks three or four storeys in height rather than the two-storey buildings favoured at other Scottish cotton mills. The houses were superior in quality to those general occupied by working people at that time. Rapid technical changes led to increases in the workforce and so new houses were added, the last in 1798 (known as "New Buildings").
Dale was a humane employer, who treated his workers well. He established a school in New Lanark which by 1796 had eighteen teachers for 510 pupils. As the most successful cotton spinner in Scotland his was an important example.
In 1799 a partnership was formed by Robert Owen, a Welsh cotton spinner, who had married Dale's daughter. Owen tightened up the management of the mill, introducing new standards of book-keeping and factory discipline. He began to remodel the village around 1809. The fourth mill was brought into production, a house being built for the apprentices as well as a foundry and machine shops.
Owen became convinced that by treating his workers as being responsible for their actions and by encouraging them to realize their mutual dependence productivity would rise and a community spirit would develop. He also realized that an educated workforce was more likely to achieve his objectives, and so in 1809 he began the construction of his "New Institution for the Formation of Character." He failed to get the support of his partners for this project, but after several changes in the partnership the building was finally opened in 1816; a school was added in the following year.
Because of its location, on the route from Lanark to the famous Falls of Clyde, the mills became one of the features of a tour of Scotland. Contact with distinguished visitor and a high level of public consciousness widened Owen's ideas. His vision of a society without crime, poverty, and misery had a wide appeal in the years following the Napoleonic Wars, and he was encouraged by this to write and to travel widely to promote his views. In 1824 a bitter quarrel with his partners over his educational methods led him to leave New Lanark to develop a community at New Harmony, Indiana (USA), on the cooperative lines that he had described in his influential Report to the County of Lanark (1820). This community failed because it lacked the central focus provided by a disciplined factory and Owen left it in 1828, though he continued to develop and promote his ideas until his death in 1858.
The mill was sold by the surviving partners to the Walker brothers in 1828 and they continued to spin cotton until they sold it in 1881 to a partnership which introduced net-making and canvas weaving. From them it passed to the Gourock Ropework Company, the world's largest rope and net producers, who made cotton canvas and nets there until 1968.
Source: UNESCO/CLT/WHC
Share Thread Share your opinion interested
EmoticonEmoticon