New life for Lanark

New Lanark is now a tourist attraction and recognised internationally. But that wasn't always the case. Hannah Adcock reports

New Lanark is one of Scotland's most impressive success stories.

Just over 30 years ago this historic village was on the brink of ruin, with the scrap metal merchants poised to move in.

Today, the village is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which welcomes more than 400,000 visitors every year and employs around 200 staff.

Scotland now has four UNESCO World Heritage Sites including Edinburgh Old and New Town. So what makes Scotland's most recent addition to the list so special?

Founded in 1785 as a cotton manufacturing plant, New Lanark rose to fame as a model community under social reformer Robert Owen. The community, located in a beautiful wooded gorge just south of Lanark, was the test case for a number of social and educational reforms pioneered by Owen.

Children under 10 were sent to school rather than to work in the mills and New Lanark claims the first infant school in the world.

However, the cotton mills finally closed in 1968 causing a crisis of confidence in the village – and the survival of all that fine Scottish history looked as though it might well disappear under the weight of economic upheaval.

But the New Lanark Conservation Trust came to the rescue, formed in 1974 and directed by Jim Arnold. The Trust has since made astonishing progress in carefully restoring New Lanark to give visitors an idea of what the community would have been like for cotton workers and their families.

New Lanark also thrives as a living community, with a population of around 200...

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• By : Hannah Adcock
• In : Best of Scotland
• Issue : 22
• Page : 42
• Words : 986