Topographical, statistical, and historical gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 2

212
LANARKSHIRE.
feet. In 1788 a second mill was built, and was
nearly roofed in, when the first was totally consumed
by an accidental fire, but it speedily rose from its
ashes, and was rebuilt and ready for the machinery
in 1789. Since then various extensions have been
made, until it is now the most extensive cotton
manufacturing establishment in the county of Lan-
ark. About 1 ,400 of the inhabitants are employed
directly in the mills, or as auxiliaries to them, and it
seems to be a settled rule that no one shall set himself
down in the village except he shall be connected with
the mills. The factory, or factories, at New Lanark,
are, perhaps, the most healthy in the kingdom.
There is here none of the confined atmosphere and
other disadvantages which belong to establishments
of a similar kind erected within the crowded lo-
cality of a large manufacturing town ; the situation
is open and healthful, pleasant, from its beautiful
situation on the Clyde, and the utmost attention is
paid by the proprietors and managers to the cleanli-
ness of the dwellings, and the well-being of the
people. None of the children are allowed to enter
the mills until they are ten years of age, and previous
to this, and for two or three years after it, a species
of compulsory though excellent system of education
is enjoined by the proprietors upon the parents.
The school, which is thus patronized by the com-
pany, is called the institution, and by its means New
Lanark has escaped the stigma, which attaches to
many other manufacturing communities, of permit-
ting their youth to grow up in immorality and igno-
rance. The inhabitants, therefore, from this early
judicious training, are, in general, an orderly, intel-
ligent, and most creditable class of people, and al-
though originally gathered from many different parts
of the kingdom to found the new village, their na-
tional characteristics have been merged or amalga-
mated into a combination which has produced dis-
tinctive feelings and habits peculiarly their own.
The majority of the present inhabitants are the de-
scendants of the original settlers, collected from
various parts of the Highlands. Although the result
of founding this manufacturing colony has been very
successful, Mr. Dale does not appear to have been at
all fastidious in his selection of the early inhabitants,
as may be learned from the following account, writ-
ten in 1794: — " In 1791 a vessel carrying emigrants
from the Isle of Skye to North America, was driven
by stress of weather into Greenock, and about 200
were put ashore in a very destitute condition. Mr.
Dale, whose humanity is ever awake, offered them
immediate employment, which the greater bulk of
them accepted. And soon after, with a view to
prevent further emigration to America, he notified
to the people of Argyleshire and the Isles the en-
couragement given to people at the cotton mills ;
and undertook to provide houses for 200 families
in the course of 1792. These were all finished last
summer (1793), and a considerable number of High-
landers have of late come to reside at New Lanark."
[Old Statistical Account.] — Mr. Dale, as part pro-
prietor and manager, was succeeded by his son-in-
law, Mr. Robert Owen, whose visionary notions and
projects for the regeneration of the social system of
mankind have made his name too notorious in the
kingdom. For a number of years he devoted much
attention to the education of the children, and pro-
pounded several plans for the amelioration of the
inhabitants, which were at first regarded with a
kindly eye, but have since been deservedly scouted
as incompatible with the well-being of the fabric of
social humanity. It is only fair to mention, however,
that Mr. Owen's name is still mentioned by the vil-
lagers with respect and even attachment, from the
personal kindness and generosity which he displayed
towards them. In 1827 this individual ceased to
have any connection with these works, which are
now managed by Messrs. Walker and Co.— The vil-
lage is within sight of the falls of Corra-linn and
Dundaff.
LANARKSHIRE,* a large, wealthy, and impor-
tant county in the western division of the Lowlands,
and the most populous in Scotland. It is bounded
by the counties of Dumbarton and Stirling on the
north ; Dumfries-shire on the south ; Ayr and Ren-
frewshire on the west ; and Linlithgow, Edinburgh,
and Peebles shires on the east. It is situated be-
tween 55° 18' 40", and 55° 56' of North lat. ; and
between 3° 24', and 4° 22' 51" West long, of Green-
wich. The extreme length of the county from south-
east to north-west, is about 54 miles ; and the great-
est breadth in the centre is 33 miles ; but at the
extremities it becomes narrowed to the extent of
little more than 10 miles. It contains an area of
926 square miles, or 471,278 Scots statute acres,
equal to 584,800 imperial acres. It is divided into
three divisions or wards, called the Upper, Middle,
and Lower wards; but formerly the county was
much more extensive, and there were only two divi-
sions, called the Over and Nether wards of Clydes-
dale. Hamilton of Wishaw, in his ' Description of
the Sheriffdom of Lanark,' says, " The shyre of
Lanark was anciently of greater extent than now it
is ; for there was comprehended in it the whole
sheriffdome of Ranfrew, lying laigher upon Clyde,
called of old the Baronie of Ranfrew, (and is yett
so designed when the Prince's titles are enumerate,)
untill it was disjoyned therefra by King Robert the
Third, in anno 1402, at such time as he erected what
had been his father's patrimonie before his accession
to the Crown, in ane principalitie in favour of his
sone Prince James. And then, because of the large-
ness of its extent, it was divyded into two wairds,
called the Upper and the Nether waird ; and the
burgh of Lanark declared to be the head-burgh of
the upper waird, and Rutherglen of the Nether waird :
and since the dissolving of the shire of Ranfrew from
the sheriffdome of Lanark, the burgh of Lanark is
the head-burgh of the sheriffdome of Lanark, and
Rutherglen the head-burgh of the Nether waird
thereof." Such is the account of Hamilton of Wi-
shaw, whose research and painstaking render him
generally worthy of credit; but other accounts affirm
that the disjunction of Renfrew from Lanarkshire
did not take place till the reign of James II. It is
unnecessary to quote the arguments and evidence of
the various writers as to the period of this disjunc-
tion. It is enough for our purpose, that previous to
the first quarter of the 15th century, Lanarkshire
was much more extensive than it now is. The
county continued to form only two wards until the
middle of the last century, when, from the increase of
the population, it was deemed judicious to form it
into three wards; viz., the Upper ward, of which
Lanark still continued to be the chief town ; the
Middle ward, of which Hamilton was appointed the
chief town and seat of justice; and the Lower ward,
of which Glasgow took the place of Rutherglen as
the metropolis. Glasgow is, of course, the head-
quarters of the circuit-justiciary and other courts,
and the residence of the sheriff-depute and two sub-
stitutes; but substitutes are also appointed over the
Middle and Upper wards, and hold their courts at
Hamilton and Lanark. Including the various quoad
civilia parishes into which the city of Glasgow has,
* The name of the shire is believed to be derived from that
of the county-towo. Lanark derives its Celtic appellation from
the British Lttmercli, which signifies in Welsh, • a vale, or level
space of ground.' Several places in Scotland, which have the
name of Lendrick, are understood to be derived from the same
British source.