Description

1826-33. 6-storey, 15-bay, rectangular-plan, astylar classical, piend-roofed block with 5-storey, 3-bay link to former Mill No 4 with separate piended roof (see Notes). Symmetrical main block with advanced central gable-pedimented 3 bays, oval oculus and chimney at apex; advanced single outer bays. 3-bay link to outer left with central doorway. Sandstone rubble with droved and stugged ashlar dressings. Band course to pediment; eaves course and blocking course to advanced outer bays. Long and short quoins. Regular fenestration with tabbed ashlar margins; small dormers to front and rear of main block. Large opening to left at first floor level; covered late 20th century ramp above from Institute to 1st bay of 3rd floor

16-pane and 12-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows. Coped stack. Grey slates.

INTERIOR: some surviving 19th century details. Fireproof construction of brick arches between cast-iron beams carried on cast-iron columns. Basement floor with black and red floors tiles. Unique cast- and wrought-iron roof frame at E end in link section. Attic floored with cast-iron plates. 1920s turbine in basement.

Statement of Interest

Mill 3 is the best preserved of the mills in New Lanark, and like the others is of outstanding importance both historically and architecturally, its main visual effect being gained from its sheer scale, simple Classical style and the regularity of its fenestration. It is an outstanding example of early 19th century industrial architecture and the third oldest example of fireproof construction in Scotland.

Mill No 3 was built circa 1790-92 by David Dale, burnt down in 1819 and was rebuilt circa 1826-33 by Robert Owen as a totally fireproof iron-framed mill. The 3-bay extension between Mills 3 and 4 is of a construction now virtually unique in Scotland. It has iron plate floors laid on a grid of short cast-iron joists and a roof of iron purlins. Because the roof is entirely constructed of iron the slates are tied on with wire. The prime purpose of this construction was to make it act as a firebreak between the mills once the decision had been made to link them.

Mill No 3 was originally the 'Jennie House' for both common and lightly powered self-acting spinning jennies designed to William Kelly's patent. Kelly was the inventive Lanark clock-maker who, with David Dale, developed various machines that were used in New Lanark such as the different heating and ventilation systems used in the mill buildings. The heating system used in Mill 3 was similar to that in Mill 2 but instead of the hot air being passed from a stove at the lower level up through compartments built into the thickness of the wall and separated by thin iron plates, it passed in this case through external chambers built into the gables.

New Lanark was a pioneering cotton-spinning village, which became a model for industrial communities that was to spread across the world in the 19th and 20th centuries and is recognised as being of outstanding importance historically and in visual terms because of its completeness and its physical form. Elements of sophisticated early town planning are evidenced in the orchestration of the various components in the village, from the mill weir, its lade and tunnel to south, to the tunnels and sluices leading off to the individual mills, the crucially generous circulation spaces, gardens, tailored walks and viewing points realised from the start. It is surrounded by an incomparable natural and designed landscape, the mill buildings sitting on the natural terrace to the east of the River Clyde in this deeply incised, wooded river valley.

Built to exploit the water power offered by the Falls of Clyde, the mills were in operation from 1786 to 1968. The mill village is made up of industrial, residential and community buildings, dating predominantly from between 1786 and the 1820s. It was founded by David Dale, a Glasgow merchant, in conjunction with Richard Arkwright, a trailblazing inventor of the cotton spinning industry whose patents enabled operation on a considerable scale. Dale's humane philosophy, realised from the start in the buildings of New Lanark, was expanded by Robert Owen, who took over management of the mill village in partnership from 1799. Owen created an environment where child labour and corporal punishment were abolished, and provided workers with good homes, education and free health care as well as affordable food. He had a profound influence on social developments such as factory reform throughout the 19th century.

Within World Heritage Site inscribed 2001.

List description updated 2010.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17571777

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Dorset (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  Hampshire: South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)