For the visionary philanthropist and social reformer, Robert Owen, New Lanark would be a beacon of light amid the belching smoke of the Industrial Revolution; his model village would bring a better way of life for his mill workers.
Within its high rise walls, a socialist utopia stirred. The clatter of the spinning machines churned out their cotton yarn, children received an education, and families lived in decent homes.
Having crumbled into a derelict state, it was lovingly brought back to life by devoted volunteers in the 1970s. Rooms were opened to show how life was once like and its working spinning mill turned out yarn by the mile.
Its transformation into an important heritage site was complete in 2001 when New Lanark was awarded world heritage status by UNESCO.
Last week The Herald revealed New Lanark Trust had taken the surprise decision to close its highly regarded wool operation, citing “an ongoing assessment of the woollen mill’s financial viability”.
As an ‘attraction’, it said, New Lanark was doing well: “But responsible management is vital to ensure all areas of the business can operate viably.”
And the woollen mill, with its clattering complex parts that in expert hands produces high quality yarn would be shut down and silent.
That move has left groups within Scotland’s small but thriving wool sector reeling, particularly as it hit out of the blue, without warning.
It’s also raised eyebrows among people close to the mill operation who insist that until recently it was not only turning a profit, but doing very well indeed.
New Lanark Trust insist the spinning mill “consistently, over each of last five years… incurred significant financial losses, totalling almost £100,000”.
Yet according to New Lanark Trading filing history, the wool side of the business in 2022 brought in sales of circa £192,000. In 2023 it produced an income of £183,202 against expenditure of £178,781 and in 2024, income of £149,100 against expenditure of £158,050.
Lurking in the background, meanwhile, is New Lanark’s 38-bed Mill Hotel, eight self-catering Waterhouses, a hostel and leisure centre.
Read more by Sandra Dick:
Stricken by the impact of the pandemic, New Lanark Hotels limped towards the threat of liquidation.
By January 2023, it had a £753,000 deficit on unrestricted funds, prompting the trustees to act. Instead of sitting as a separate charity, New Lanark Hotels would become part of New Lanark Trading – the charity covering the areas such as the wool production, retail and visitor centre - instead.
Lumbered with the hotel’s debts, accounts for New Lanark Trading just lodged at Companies House, show it with a 2023 deficit of £614,000 – a considerable leap from the previous year’s deficit of £178,000.
The deficit on the charity's unrestricted funds, meanwhile, has soared to £1.334 million.
Could it be that the spinning mill, once so successful that it supplied the likes of Chanel and Paul Smith with high quality yarn, has simply been sacrificed to help prop up the hotel?
If so, would that really be in the spirit of the original effort to preserve the site and its unique industrial heritage, so future generations can better understand a long gone way of life?
And what does it mean for the site’s UNESCO World Heritage status?
Certainly, the man who brought the spinning mill machinery to New Lanark in 1990 has his fears on that front.
“I’m very concerned,” says Alan Barrowclough. “Is it still a World Heritage Site without the working spinning mill?
“No, definitely not.”
Behind the scenes, public funds have poured into New Lanark in recent years: In 2021, The Scottish Government handed over £1.7 million funding intended to be spent on the hydro-electric turbine and essential maintenance at the World Heritage Site.
That was in addition to £711,000 provided by the Scottish Government to support New Lanark over that year, after its revenues were hit by the pandemic.
New Lanark’s “support for heritage craft skills” was singled out by the Scottish Government as one of the site’s key benefits.
Since 2021, the Trust was received just over £600,000 of support from Historic Environment Scotland’s Organisational Support Fund, established to help organisations experiencing financial or organisational difficulties.
Read more by Sandra Dick:
While in 2023 came £2.3m from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) as part of their Covid-19 Response Fund.
A Herald request from New Lanark Trust’s representatives for a breakdown of how the grants have been spent and further details of the spinning mill's finances was turned down.
Meanwhile, much focus has been placed by the Trust on developing the hydro power production at New Lanark.
An important component for the historic spinning mill, the charity has already earned income from selling excess hydro power back to the National Grid.
Out of action for a spell, the 90-year-old Boving twin runner Francis turbine is now repaired, and capable of producing more energy than ever: income, according to the most recent accounts, stood at £425,000 having made nothing during the refit the previous year.
That will be good news for New Lanark’s five-year management plan, which stated developing a strategy of exploring the production of hydro production and green energy as a key objectives.
Which, again, may lead some to wonder whether New Lanark’s focus has shifted.
Has what began as a place to tell the rich story of industrial heritage, shifted into a hotel, health, beauty and leisure centre with restaurants, wedding events, and hydro power business?
For a spell, the charity regulator, the OSCR, had some doubts over the Trust’s ‘commercial’ enterprises.
In 2021, it ended in court, after the charity regulator insisted that the hotel company and New Lanark Trading, which at that time included the loss-making and now defunct ice cream business along with retail, café and the wool production side, did not qualify as charities.
Instead, it thought that while some of what they did could be considered charitable it was outweighed by commercial activities, making them private enterprises.
With £650,000 of non-domestic rates at stake should be they hold charity status, the Trust fought the OSCR ruling for three years.
Upper Tribunal judges eventually opted to side with the trustees.
In the judgement, Lady Dorrian wrote: “It is a crucial feature of the New Lanark site that it is not merely preserved, but maintained as a living village so that visitors may, so far as is practicable, experience the original concept which has led to its World Heritage designation.”
That then raises the sticky question of whether the loss of a key component of the visitor experience - the working spinning mill producing yarn just as in Robert Owen’s day - means New Lanark can seriously claim to be the industrial heritage experience it once was.
Or, is it a hotel and leisure complex in a beautiful, restored 19th century village that also happens to have some exhibitions on the side?
An OSCR spokesperson said simply: “It is the responsibility of the trustees of the charity to continue to provide public benefit.”
Other concerns have rumbled in the background, such as the Trust’s handling of sensitive issues: when 50 jobs were at risk of redundancy in 2020, new was delivered to workers by the then Chief Executive over Zoom. His failure to switch on his camera left workers furious.
Around the same time, a decision by the Trust to market test rents on properties which had been hailed as a pioneering example of social housing without any prior consultation, sparked rage among residents.
The lack of warning and discussion with textile and wool groups over the spinning mill’s demise is, say some, just the latest to leave people close to the site in dismay.
As one former New Lanark employee says: “I have some insight to the poor management and especially Trustee chaos that has led to this and has put the UNESCO status of the site in jeopardy.
“I saw the writing on the walls and left when I saw the way things were heading.
“I think it is horrendous what is happening to this historic site.”
According to New Lanark Trust, it carried a full consultation on the future of the spinning mill with its stakeholders.
It’s understood South Lanarkshire Council, one of the site's partners, has not had a representative at recent Trust meetings.
A spokesperson said: “We note the decision taken by the trust. There would be no requirement for them to consult the council in advance of a decision of this nature.”
Read more by Sandra Dick:
Local councillor Catherine McClymont served for ten years on the Trust before resigning in 2022.
“It is indeed a sad day for me to learn of the closure of the Mill. I wasn’t aware of this as I have no contact with New Lanark Trust,” she says.
“I resigned and I thought another councillor would take my place but this did not happen.
“New Lanark Trust decided they no longer wished a local councillor as a Trustee, which was extremely worrying for me.
“I have raised this with the council as an issue for locals as there is no local trustee serving on the board as far as I can see.
“I honestly don’t know who the trustees are currently - on the OSCR website all that information has been redacted!”
In a few weeks’ time the spinning mill will close, just as visitors are being lured to “the magic of the season at New Lanark” as it is transformed into what its website suggests will be a winter wonderland for Christmas.
There they’ll find a “festive village is bursting with holiday cheer and delightful experiences for the whole family” including “tourist offerings of Santa Grottos, Christmas films and inflatables”.
The Annie McLeod Experience Ride, which usually takes visitors on a gentle journey through life in New Lanark in 1820 in a motorised pod, instead becomes a journey into a “magical festive world”.
It’s fair to say none of that would have featured anywhere in Robert Owen’s 18th century mill village.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel