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New Lanark Mill Number Four is a cotton spinning mill in Lanarkshire, Scotland, constructed as part of the early industrial expansion at New Lanark. The mill was built on bedrock of the Lanark Group, Early Devonian sandstone and conglomerate strata that provided stable foundations for the substantial brick and stone structure. Like others in the New Lanark complex, the mill exploited the reliable water power of the River Clyde, which flows through the landscape carved into these ancient rocks, making the location ideal for large-scale textile production during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
The mill is protected as a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM12701, recognising its significance in Scottish industrial heritage. Mill Number Four exemplifies the technological and architectural standards of the period, when cotton spinning mills represented the cutting edge of manufacturing innovation. The building survives as evidence of the engineering skill required to harness water power and drive the machinery that processed raw cotton into thread and yarn.
Today the mill stands within the New Lanark World Heritage Site, a landscape that preserves the physical infrastructure of one of Britain's most important early cotton mills. The survival of Mill Number Four, alongside its sister buildings and associated workers' housing, documents a crucial phase in Scotland's industrial development and the human communities that sustained it.
New Lanark, Mill Number Four is a scheduled monument protected by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM12701. View the official record →
New Lanark Mill Number Four is a cotton spinning mill in Lanarkshire, Scotland, constructed as part of the early industrial expansion at New Lanark. It is designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland under reference SM12701.
New Lanark, Mill Number Four is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, legally protected by Historic Environment Scotland — the body responsible for designating and safeguarding heritage sites in Scotland. The official designation reference is SM12701.
Several scheduled monuments lie within 10 km, including Castle Hill,site of Lanark Castle (0.8 km), St Kentigern's Church, Lanark (1.1 km), Corra Castle (1.1 km).
This page is just one thread. A full Aubrey report pulls together 14 strands of New Lanark, Mill Number Four's history, each drawn from the record and mapped to the exact spot:
Every location is different. Not every section appears for every place, only what the historical record actually holds turns up in a report.
New Lanark, Mill Number Four stands on Lanark Group, bedrock that formed in the Early Devonian. The rock here is sandstone and conglomerate, interbedded.