page_title: Ropewalk
section_title: Examples
hierarchical_section_title: Ropewalk / Examples
caption_attribution_description: Chatham Dockyard, Kent,England has the finest collection of 18th and 19th century naval dockyard buildings many of which are scheduled as ancient monuments. Chatham Double Ropehouse. This is 1128 ft long and 42 ft wide. The longest brick building in Europe when it was constructed. The ropewalk: laying the rope.Low light hand held shot.
context_page_description: A ropewalk is a long straight narrow lane, or a covered pathway, where long strands of material are laid before being twisted into rope. Due to the length of some ropewalks, workers may use bicycles to get from one end to the other.
  Many ropewalks were in the open air, while others were covered only by roofs. Ropewalks historically were harsh sweatshops, and frequently caught fire, as hemp dust ignites easily and burns fiercely. Rope was essential in sailing ships and the standard length for a British Naval Rope was 1,000 feet. A sailing ship such as HMS Victory required 31 miles of rope.
context_section_description: Central Liverpool's bohemian RopeWalks district takes its name from this practice and consists of the lanes where this work once took place.
  The ropewalk at Chatham Dockyard (as part of the Ropery or Ropehouse) is still producing rope commercially and has an internal length of 1,135 feet (346 m). When it was constructed in 1790, it was the longest brick building in Europe. Before steam power was introduced in 1836, it took over 200 men to form and close a 20-inch (51 cm) (circumference) cable laid rope.  The rope walk is used to form and close the rope, these being the final stages in rope making. Before this the raw hemp, manila hemp or sisal has to be hatchelled, spun into yarn, and tarred.
  In the early 17th century, Peter Appleby constructed a 980-foot long (300 m) ropewalk (for the dockyard) in the Christianshavn neighbourhood of Copenhagen, Denmark.
  From the late 17th century, the ropewalk on the Swedish island of Lindholmen was a key component of the Karlskrona naval base producing rope up to 300 metres in length for the cordage of warships. Although production ceased in 1960, the elaborately designed facility is now open to the public with exhibitions and demonstrations of ropemaking. A similarly scaled facility in Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, France, called the Corderie Royale, is also maintained as a museum within the Centre International de la Mer.
  In the 18th Century, Malta and Port Mahon, on the island of Menorca, both had open-air ropewalks.
  In Boston in the Massachusetts Colony, some early rope making businesses were called 'ropewalks'.
  Jalan Pintal Tali which is in one of the older, central parts of George Town, Penang, Malaysia, literally means "rope-twisting street".
  In Toronto, a ropewalk appears on municipal maps from as early as the 1860s and operated for at least 40 years. The ropewalk ran to the east of Lansdowne Avenue (formerly Jameson Avenue, then North Lansdowne Avenue). 1884 Insurance Plan shows the factory going from lot 42 at the south end to lot 35 at the north. 1890 Assessment rolls show the owner to be an Alice McGregor and Archibald McGregor as a tenant rope maker aged 66 and list the ropewalk sheds. The municipal assessment rolls show many residents in the neighbourhood employed by the ropewalk factory. Examples: Michael Curran age 35 rope maker; Michael Griffin rope maker, Barthlamew Sullivan age 62 rope maker; Peter Griffin age 27 rope maker, James Lochrie age 32 rope maker, John Baylor (or Taylor) age 46 rope maker, Bat Sullivan Sheridan age 62 rope maker, Egbert Barwell and Patrick Dillon.
  In Quebec, Evan Rees (originally of Bristol, England) had a rope walk constructed in 1823. After his death in 1824, his son by the same name continued its operation until it burned down in the great Quebec fire of 1867.
  The Reeperbahn in Hamburg is now the center of the famous amusement and red-light district St. Pauli.
  The Ropewalk in Nottingham passes over Park Tunnel.
caption: Laying the rope in the ropewalk at Chatham Dockyard
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