New Lanark Mill

Overview

New Lanark is a beautifully restored late 18th century cotton mill village midway between Glasgow and Edinburgh. Here, in the early 19th century, Robert Owen created a unique work environment where child labour and corporal punishments were abolished, workers were given decent homes, children went to school and Mr Owen opened a village shop for the mill workers. 

This story is told in the different buildings of the visitor centre. The tour starts with a sort of "ghost train" ride around various dislplays with narration from "Maggie", the ghost of a childworker who tells you all about her life in the Mills. You are then free to wander around the "village" where you can see a school room, a recreation of the co-operative village store (complete with plastic food stuffs) and recreations of mill workers houses from the 1940's and 1820's. The 19th century living conditions might seem basic to us, but they were a revolutionary improvement for mill workers at that time.

New Lanark is a beautifully restored late 18th century cotton mill village midway between Glasgow and Edinburgh. Here, in the early 19th century, Robert Owen created a unique work environment where child labour and corporal punishments were abolished, workers were given decent homes, children went to school and Mr Owen opened a village shop for the mill workers. 

This story is told in the different buildings of the visitor centre. The tour starts with a sort of "ghost train" ride around various dislplays with narration from "Maggie", the ghost of a childworker who tells you all about her life in the Mills. You are then free to wander around the "village" where you can see a school room, a recreation of the co-operative village store (complete with plastic food stuffs) and recreations of mill workers houses from the 1940's and 1820's. The 19th century living conditions might seem basic to us, but they were a revolutionary improvement for mill workers at that time.