Step back in time and witness Victorian changes

People can find out how our ancestors used to live and experience the changes taking place at a working mill in the Victorian era.

New Lanark is a cotton spinning village which was founded in 1785 and quickly became internationally renowned thanks to the enlightened management of social pioneer, Robert Owen who managed the village from 1800-1825. He provided decent homes, fair wages, free health care, a new education system for villagers and the first workplace nursery school in the world.

Visitors will be able to experience the effects of the modernisation of the mills, to the introduction of mill and steam engines and to the advent of photography.

New Lanark’s Back in Time Day will be open from 11am-4pm on Sunday, 8 July.

Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, New Lanark has been beautifully restored as a living community, which welcomes visitors from all over the world.

The visitor attraction includes the Annie McLeod Experience dark ride featuring mill girl Annie, who magically appears and reveals the amazing story of her life and times in New Lanark in 1820; Robert Owen’s School for Children; recreated Millworkers’ Housing; the New Lanark Roof Garden and Clearburn play and picnic area.

An archive image showing a horse and cart at New Lanark

Visitors to the Back in Time Day will be able to enjoy a wide selection of free activities including outdoor games in Robert Owen’s Garden, circus performers and period music, traditional ceilidh dancing, craft demonstrations, traction engines, period food samples and the chance to dress up and snap photos in the vintage photo studio.

This event is part of a Townscape Heritage / Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme which will take place at New Lanark over a four year period until 2020.

Phase one of this large-scale regeneration project has seen the restoration of Double Row, a Category A listed former millworkers’ tenement block, which had been vacant and derelict for over 40 years.

New Lanark World Heritage Site as it is today

Phase 2A, which is currently under construction, is the demarcation and interpretation of Mantilla Row which had been demolished in 1988. Further phases include the repair of the church wall and restoration of other tenements within the village.

A range of heritage-based community activities are being delivered in parallel to the construction works including the Back in Time Day on 8 July.

Total costs for this large scale regeneration project are over £4m. The two main funders are the Heritage Lottery Fund through its Townscape Heritage (TH) programme and Historic Environment Scotland through its Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme (CARS). Additional funding has been secured from the Renewable Energy Fund (South Lanarkshire Council), the Wolfson Foundation and New Lanark Trust.