Lanark, New

   LANARK, NEW, a populous manufacturing village, in the parish, and Upper ward of the county, of Lanark, 1 mile (S. by W.) from the town of Lanark; containing 1642 inhabitants. This place owes its rise to the introduction of the cotton manufacture by Mr. David Dale, who, in 1784, erected extensive mills for spinning and weaving cotton. The village is situated near the river Clyde, and is surrounded by steep and richly-wooded hills, which give it an air of seclusion and retirement; it is regularly and handsomely built, and is inhabited chiefly by persons employed in the cotton-works, which ever since their introduction, have been carried on with increasing success. The first of the mills erected was 154 feet in length, twenty-seven feet in width, and sixty feet in height; and a tunnel nearly 100 yards in length was cut through a rocky hill, to form a passage for the water of the Clyde, by which it was propelled: in 1788 a second mill of the same dimensions, and two others subsequently, were built. The mill first erected was totally destroyed by an accidental fire in the same year, 1788, but was rebuilt in the year following. The works were afterwards carried on with great success by Robert Owen, son-in-law of Mr. Dale, till 1827, since which time they have been conducted by the firm of Messrs. Walker and Company. The machinery employed is of the most improved construction. About 1200 persons are employed in these works, of whom nearly sixty are mechanics and labourers engaged in keeping the machinery in repair: many are children, for whose comfort the company have made every requisite provision. A school has been established in the village, by the proprietors of the works, for the instruction of the children of the factory, of whom a large number attend at stated hours, and receive a course of instruction adapted to their improvement in knowledge and in morals. A benefit society, for the support of its members in cases of sickness, is maintained by small weekly payments; and there are also two funeral societies in the village.