Earth shattering wedding night worries for New Lanark brides

Nov 13 2008 by George Topp, Lanark & Carluke

WORRIED brides have been contacting a Clydesdale hotel to ask if the earth will really move there during their wedding night.

And the calls to the New Lanark Mill Hotel were prompted by an Advertiser article highlighting fears that part of historic New Lanark might soon be slipping into the River Clyde.

Bosses at the world-famous heritage village have warned that a row of houses near the hotel may be in danger of slipping into the Clyde.

The threat comes from a retaining wall, which is in need of urgent attention.

But the New Lanark Trust’s application for a Heritage Lottery Grant to meet the cost was turned down.

This prompted Trust chairman Arthur Bell to warn that too much Lottery money was being siphoned off by the London Olympics and heritage sites, such as New Lanark, were suffering as a result.

This week Mr Bell revealed that last week’s Advertiser article had resulted in some “surprising and unusual” questions.

For brides, whose weddings are soon to be held in the New Lanark Mill Hotel, are asking: “Will the hotel have fallen into the Clyde by the time of my wedding?”

Mr Bell said the Trust were refraining from saying that “the earth will move for any brides who use our hotel” to avoid any complaints to the Advertising Standards Agency.

He added: “Of course we cannot guarantee against earthquakes, or what the insurance companies call Acts of God, but the answer is that the hotel is 100% safe.

“The retaining wall concerned stretches for around 200 metres away to the west of the hotel, down the gorge of the river, and nowhere is there likely to be a fall beside the hotel.

“The wall itself is under regular monitoring by structural engineers.”

Mr Bell went on to say: “The object of our unlucky recent application to the Heritage Lottery Fund was to ensure the future of the so far unrestored Double Row of housing. It is the Trust’s ambition – and remit – to complete the restoration of the village.”

Double Row is the final major building requiring such work. It is off the normal tourists’ trail and the riverside walk below there is hardly accessible.

Any curious visitors would find it difficult and be discouraged from exploring there, he explained.

“The Heritage Lottery Fund, as well as the European Union, South Lanarkshire Council, and Historic Scotland, helped us restore Mill 1, which is now the hotel, 10 years ago.

“We have so far catered for around 700 weddings, and even the most energetic eightsome reels have failed to cause earthquakes in the Clyde Valley.

“The superb setting above the river has proved a wonderful backdrop for wedding photographs – and now we have an even better feature for them.

“That is the new roof garden on Mill 2, as featured on BBC’s popular Beechgrove Garden.

“This is proving a ‘wow factor’ in wedding pictures, provided weather permits.

“The latter also is something for which the Trust cannot be held responsible,” concluded Mr Bell.