There was a full house when more than 70 members met at the Fairland Hall in Wymondham for the February talk to the Wymondham Heritage Society. Hayden Charles gave a fascinating insight to the history, past & present, of ropemaking.

Hayden explained the history of ropemaking from earliest times, illustrating the construction of Egyptian papyrus rope from 500 B.C. and comparing it to modern polyester rope. He showed pictures of the various raw materials used, the most common being hemp, much of which is imported from Russia. In the middle ages it was a national requirement for people to grow hemp since vast amounts of ropes were required for the merchant and navy ships of the period and self sufficiency in the raw material was of vital importance. A ship of the line such as HMS Victory would have needed 31 miles of rope.

The processes used in the making of ropes were explained in detail. The initial steps in separating the fibres found in the various plants such as hemp, flax etc were clearly somewhat unpleasant since the plants would have to be kept under water for a week or two so that they began to rot, a process known as ‘retting’. Removing the resulting material from the ponds used for the purpose would have been very messy and smelly. The fibres would then have to be separated or ‘scutched’ by pulling bundles of stems through a metal comb or ‘hackle’ similar to those used in brushmaking, an example of which is on show in the Brushroom at the Museum.

Subsequent steps in the process involve spinning the fibres, tarring them and then twisting into yarns of varying thickness and then combining these into cords, ropes or cables of varying thickness to eventually produce the finished product.

Hayden then produced a demonstration ropewalk. This was set up in the centre of the room and with assistance from Rosemary and other members he spun a 3-metre length of sisal which was passed round for all to examine.

There followed a number of maps showing the distribution of rope making areas round the country drawing largely on census returns. Chatham & Portsmouth dockyards figured strongly as naval bases but there were also goodly numbers in the former mining areas. Closer to home, namely Norfolk, and the distribution, not surprisingly showed these were mainly round the coast although not exclusively since there were many trades as well as farms and householders needing all kinds and sizes of ropes, cord & twine.

Maps of Great Yarmouth at different dates showed many rope walks and the gradual loss of them although Hayden was able to show photographs of the sites of many of them still visible today. Norwich also had its share of rope makers and one company, started by Isaac Hurn in Dove Street, was particularly successful even though it suffered a drastic fire in 1898 which destroyed not only Hurn’s premises but also several surrounding buildings.

Kevin Hurn was in the chair and thanked Haydn for a fascinating talk.