The Mills 3

A Spinning Mule

The first mill was completed in March of 1796, situated towards the northern end of the site. Not all of the site belonged to the same person however. Part of it belonged to the Incorporation of Shoemakers in Lanark. Yet another piece of land, this time slightly upstream, was bought, this time from Sir John Lockhart Ross. The first mill started spinning in the same month it was built. Dale, a knowledgeable businessman, took out a fire insurance policy in that year. It proved its worth seven months later when, on the 9th. of October it caught fire and was completely destroyed. The insurance company paid out £2000 for the mill, £2500 for the machinery and £300 for two houses which had also been built. This meant that by the time the second mill had been completed the first mill still wasn’t ready. It took until 1789 for the first mill to be totally finished, the second mill having been completed by 1788..

The building work was finished by 1793 and, by then, four mills had been erected and housing sufficient for over 200 families. Each mill was five storeys high with a basement, attic and neo-classical style windows. Two of the mills had three water wheels situated in the centre of them, these provided power from the Arkwright Water Frames and various other machines. One of the mills was also a home for 275 orphans, this mill also served as a workshop and storehouse.

During the building work the partnership that Dale had previously been in was dissolved. No reason was given for the break up but Arkwright was in contest with another man over his patent and he may have had no time for the rapidly growing New Lanark. Building work continued in New Lanark until David Dale died at 67 years old. At his death New Lanark had housing that could accommodate over 1300 people. The ownership of New Lanark transferred to Dale’s son-in-law, Robert Owen. Thankfully for New Lanark Robert Owen continued to operate New Lanark in a co-operative fashion and even set about making some improvements to it.