21st July
Clear if overcast. This was a lovely day for cycling. The rain stayed away, the roads were gently undulating at the most, and there was a good cycle path for most of the route.
New Lanark Youth Hostel occupies part of the Mill complex in the New Lanark World Heritage Site, sponsored by Unesco. Started by David Dale and Richard Armitage in the late eighteenth century, Robert Owen, who married Dale's daughter, and was an esteemed mill manager by the age of 20, cast his shape on the site in the early nineteenth century.
He treated his workers fairly and established a school for the children, in which no harsh punishment was allowed. He believed that to treat children kindly was to foster the better parts of their character.
Notably, New Lanark is the home of the foundation of the Cooperative Movement. Many mill owners used to provide shops for their workers, but usually over charged. Owen ensured that prices were fair.
You can see the various mills, the Clydesdale Falls just upstream, the weir, the water mill, the school and Robert Owen's house.
The boys had to walk their bikes uphill. The hills descending to the Clyde were very steep.
The photos show the boys outside the row of houses in which Robert Owen lived, with the school behind them, a mill, the Clydesdale Falls, and a stop in the village of Abington where they had their lunch.
No comments:
Post a Comment