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Gourock Ropeworks New Lanark (clip 1)

Rope making processes at New Lanark

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Footage of work inside the Gourock Ropework Co. Ltd based at the New Lanark mills.
Includes both interior and exterior shots of the Gourock Ropework buildings/factories at New Lanark. The ropemaking processes in the factory are shown with female workers overseeing the work. Shots of the fibres being aligned; spinning threads; threads being wound onto bobbins.

Questions & Activities


  • Why is New Lanark famous?
  • Why is New Lanark a World Heritage site?
  • What raw materials are shown in the film?
  • How is rope and string made?
  • What uses can you think of for rope?
  • What other textiles is Scotland famous for producing?
  • Why was it particularly linked to Scotland?
  • What are the women doing?
  • Why are belts shown in the configuration they are? What were the principals on which New Lanark was founded?
  • What is the significance of the river shown in the film and the location of New Lanark?


Media Studies: Discuss how effective this film is in explaining how an industrial process works. (Perhaps compare with 0067 The Samson Stripper).

Media Studies: Add an explanatory voiceover to the film. Create the sound effects that you think the machines might make.

Technologies / Art and Design: Design your own machine incorporating some of the types of movement that you can see in the film.

English / Music: Write a working song or nursery rhyme to talk about the bobbins and weaving process. What songs do you know already. You could use the nursery rhyme 'Wind the Bobbin Up'.

History: Research the history of New Lanark and why it declined soon after this film was made?

Research lives in New Lanark today and if possible, visit New Lanark.

Clip Details

Record Id 007-000-002-459-C
Resource Rights Holder National Library of Scotland
Project Ref 5144
Date 1965
Genre Industrial, Documentary
School Subject Social History, Media Studies, History, Technologies, English, Music
Subject Matter Textiles, Business, Enterprise
Who Templar Film Studies (production company)
Where Gourock, New Lanark
Event Factory
Attributes Black and White, Silent
Clip Length 3:03
Film Length 03:03
All Rights Reserved.
Creative Scotland, The Lighthouse, Mitchell Lane, Glasgow G1 3NU