A Visit to Stanley Mills near Perth
Stanley Mills, said to be one of Scotland's best-preserved relics of the Industrial Revolution where cotton textiles were manufactured.
Constructed in the 1780s with backing from Richard Arkwright, Stanley Mills comes very close to being just as stunning as the 18th century mill complex at New Lanark. It opens to the public between April and September each year, but out of season you are free to wander around and marvel at the architectural beauty of these old buildings.
Richard Arkwright is known as the pioneer of the Factory System, where manufacturing processes took place in large mill buildings or factories full of working men and women and machines. Arkwright was one of the fathers of the Industrial Revolution. But this revolution in the UK's manufacturing industries did always run smoothly.
Machines invented by people like Arkwright took the place of many workers, and as a consequence there were at time riots and baying mobs who were keen to destroy the factories and machines that actually put many of them out of work. Richard Arkwright was at times referred to as the enemy of working people.
But progress marches on, and god help those who would stand in its way.
What we actually witnessed during the creation of these huge mills and factories during the Industrial Revolution was the beginning of the end for the working man and the rise of the machines, a process that continues to this day with more and more men and women being replaced by technology and machines that will in all probability one day take over.
IMPORTANT NOTE: PLEASE SWITCH THE 'STABLE VOLUME' SETTING OFF, SO YOU HEAR THE VIDEO AS I INTENDED, WITH THE MUSIC (ESPECIALLY AT THE END) LOUDER THAN GENERAL SPEECH.