Council area · Scotland
South Lanarkshire
Explore one part of South Lanarkshire’s history at New Lanark, where a cotton mill, workers’ housing and a school tell an industrial and social story beside the Clyde.
Quick facts
- Type of place
- Council area
- Nation
- Scotland
- Official identifier
- gss:S12000029
- Part of
- Scotland (Nation)
Overview
South Lanarkshire is a council area in Scotland. New Lanark, a restored eighteenth-century cotton mill village on the River Clyde near the Falls of Clyde, is one part of that wider area. Its surviving buildings bring manufacturing, housing and education into the same local story.
South Lanarkshire is a council area in Scotland.
Population and demographics
- Land area
- 1,771.89 km²
-
Figures for . NRS mid-2025 administrative areas; land area from ONS SAM through 31 December 2024.
National Records of Scotland · nrs-mid-2025 · Table 4!E34 (binary spreadsheet decimal rounded to 6 dp). Released 14 July 2026.
Open Government Licence v3.0 · Source: National Records of Scotland. Crown copyright; Open Government Licence v3.0.
- Population
- 334,330 people
-
Figures for . NRS mid-2025 administrative areas; land area from ONS SAM through 31 December 2024.
National Records of Scotland · nrs-mid-2025 · Table 1!E36. Released 14 July 2026.
Open Government Licence v3.0 · Source: National Records of Scotland. Crown copyright; Open Government Licence v3.0.
Population density: 188.7 people per km²
Calculated from the population and land area for 30 June 2025, using figures from the same release and covering the same boundaries.
The mill village and its workers
Cotton production at New Lanark continued until 1968. The planned mill village became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2001. Robert Owen improved workers’ housing, education and services at New Lanark. The surviving mill, school and homes provide different ways to examine that history: production, learning and everyday living are represented in the village’s buildings. Their setting beside the Clyde is part of this particular place, rather than a description of every community in South Lanarkshire.