How Is Rope Made?
The Raw Materials
The Ropemaking Process
The Product Range
Hay Creels
Knots
Natural fibres, derived from the sinewy parts of plant stalks and leaves, have been used to make rope since ancient times. Flax, sisal and jute are still used in Hawes. Hemp was formerly used a great deal but is now virtually unobtainable.
Some older readers may remember their local ropemaker preparing yarn for ropemaking. Individual threads were twisted together on a hand-powered machine which resembled a large spinning wheel. The last wheel to be used in Hawes can now be seen in the Upper Dales Folk Museum near the ropeworks.
Following the preparation of yarn, the rope was twisted in the traditional way (as described lower down this page). A necessary additional step with some ropes was to give them a smoother, less hairy appearance by treating them with size (starch) to stick down the surface fibres. Mr. George Robinson of Slaidburn remembers the Outhwaites sizing cow ties "to take the whiskers off them". This process is no longer used.
The introduction of man-made fibres has given the Hawes ropemakers a greater choice of raw materials. Their properties of durability, water-resistance and strength are useful for agricultural ropes which get hard outdoor use.
However, high quality cotton is still used for ropes which must be soft to the touch - for example, calving ropes and halters for young animals.
Wool is only used for the coloured sallies of church bell ropes and in a few luxury ropes. A similar soft-textured effect can be achieved with staple-fibre polypropylene yarn - for example in bannister ropes and barrier ropes. Waste or surplus yarn from the textile industry is used to make low-cost ropes, as when carpet yarns are combined to make multi-coloured skipping ropes.
The addition of an electric motor to the ropemaking machine at Hawes in 1952 speeded up, but did not alter, the traditional method of making rope used by all the Hawes ropemakers.
Each rope made by this method is complete in itself, tailor-made to the exact length required by the customer. The longest rope that can be made on the premises is about 100 ft. However, most of the ropes produced are quite short; for example 6ft. leading reins for ponies and 11ft. lengths for making into halters for cattle and horses.
Although larger firms have moved away from this method of making rope, to a continuous manufacturing process, there is still a demand for ropes made by the traditional method which consists of four stages.
Stage 1:
WARPING UP.
Yarn is run from 2, 3 or 4 of the crooks (hooks) on the twisting machine to the single hook on the sledge.
The distance between the sledge and the twisting machine depends on the length of rope to be made.
Stage 2:
Twist is inserted into the separate strands.
The ropemaker uses a grooved wooden top to keep the strands apart while the twist is put in. As the strands twist they become shorter, pulling the sledge forward.
Stage 3:
The rope is laid
As the top is moved forward. A temporary tie is put round the rope at the crook end to prevent the rope from unravelling.
Stage 4:
The backtwist is put in.
The ropemaker turns a handle at the back of the sledge to put in the backtwist which 'balances' the rope so that it will not snarl up. In 1978 one of the three ropemaking machines was modified with a device which puts in the backtwist automatically.
The ropes are then stored, usually in batches of 50, ready for finishing to make the final products.
Each length of rope is made up by hand into the finished product. This work involves some knotting and splicing skills and also manual dexterity to mainpulate the rope quickly and neatly through the various stages.
Few special tools are needed but a fid - usually a cow's horn - is used to part the strands of the rope without damaging them.
Traditionally, most of the rope products made in Hawes were for agricultural use - for example, halters for cattle and horses, cow ties for tethering cows.
Other rope products used by farmers included tapered plough lines, plaited cow ties, calving and casting ropes, grommetted halter shanks, wagon ropes, bacon twine, clothes lines, dog leads, rabbit snares, sheep hopples and various ropes used in farm work until tractors replaced horses.
Most of these items are still made in Hawes. Since 1975, however, many items have been added to the range of products available to enable the business to survive and expand.
Three products in particular featured in these developments, all related to the growing equestrian market. It has been said that there as many horses now as there were in the days of the working horse - but nowadays they are mainly used for recreation - pony-trekking, eventing and gymkhanas. To serve the needs of this growing market, the Hawes firm introduced horse leading reins in a vast array of colours - thirty at the last count, including the standard shades of red, blue, green and yellow. Haynets were introduced - a netted bag to hold hay - and, at the suggestion of an international judge, a rope dressage arena was devised. This is marketed as the Ropesport Dressage Arena and is a lightweight boundary marker, easy to use, transport and store.
The 1983 product range included:
| Advent wreaths |
lanyards (for whistles etc) |
| bannister ropes |
leading reins |
| barrier ropes |
macramé hangers |
| bell lanyards |
macramé owls |
| boat fenders |
macramé cord and twine |
| candle holders |
netting |
| car tow ropes |
parcel twine |
| church bell ropes |
picture cord |
| clothes lines |
plough lines |
| collage materials |
quoits |
| cow ties |
rope belts |
| craft kits and materials |
rope dolls |
| dog leads |
rope ladders |
| dressage arenas |
rope Father Christmas |
| garden twine |
scramble nets |
| halters |
skipping ropes |
| hammocks |
tarzan ropes |
| haynets |
wagon ropes |
| key rings |
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Further products have now been added to this list, and some changes, particularly in the world of agriculture, have meant that some of the products made in 1983 are no longer made in 2000.
Coils and cut lengths of rope can be bought and a splicing service is available. There are also walking sticks, crooks and ferrules, books, tools, wooden and pottery items that complement the rope.
Changing agricultural practice has influenced the range of products required by the dales farmers.
In the days before tractors were available, generations of farmers used hay creels for carrying loose hay form the filed barns up on to the fells to feed sheep.
"It was a temporary bundle," says Norman Chapman, who still makes a few hay creels each year. "Now they just throw a bale over their shoulders. I've heard they used to use the creels for carrying bracken too - it was used for animal bedding."
The creel was made with a framework of hazel sticks. Hazel tends to grow thin, straight and pliable and the sticks were gathered in February before the sap rose. Tom Outhwaite and his father used to travel eight miles by train to gather them at Aysgarth, from land below the Lower Falls. They cut 200 sticks at a time and carried them up to the station. It was hard work.
When the sticks were brought back to Hawes they had to be "arched". Two hazel sticks, each about 7ft. long, were bent gradually until they formed a pair of half moon shapes. Norman Chapman adds: "You bend them to allow them to set a little bit and then a week or so later bend them a little more. The thicker they are, the slower they bend. Once they're bent to full arch you do a simple netting across them, using a thick jute twine. It's advisable to use a tarred twine."
These creels are still made occasionally at the ropeworks; it is a task requiring patience and skill. yet for transporting small loads to places where access is difficult a hay creel may be the appropriate carrier even today. Examples can be seen in the Upper Dales Folk Museum in Hawes.
"There is great intellectual pleasure in knots. They have an intricacy and satisfaction similar to crosswords,"says Dr. Edward Hunter who invented a new knot - Hunter's Bend - in 1977.
A new knot is a rarity. Almost all the knots in the world - 3,854 of them - are described and illustrated in a reference book by Clifford W. Ashley, first published in 1944. Knots, splices, hitches, hooks, beckets, toggles and sinnets are included in The Ashley Book of Knots.
The author describes where he learnt them, what they are used for, how to tie them and many other interesting facts about knots and knotting.
We can all recognise a knot from an early age. Its curved and twisted form appears on shoe laces, parcels, joints of meat, men's ties and in fashionable macramé items such as plant hangers.
Many knots have developed to serve a particular function. Sailors and fishermen, farmers and builders, surgeons and scouts, butchers and poachers all use knots in their work. Ashley describes occupational knots, from the knots used by primitive man for hunting and fishing to many specialist and tradesmen's knots.
Other knots are decorative and were developed for the tassels and fringes of rugs and wallhangings or as tricks and puzzles to while away spare time on long voyages.
A revival of interest in macramé - the art of decorative knotting - first took place in America and Canada in the 1970's. Craft enthusiasts in this country then began to experiment with different textures, thicknesses and colours of twine to create fashion accessories, household and decorative items.
With only a small number of easily-learned knots, even a beginner can achieve satisfactory results. A greater number of knots, combined in elaborate patterns, can provide endless variation and design possibilities.
Staff at the Hawes ropeworks use many knots in their everyday work - for example, the packer's knot, the overhand knot and figure-of-eight knot. Attractive plant pot hangers are made by combining square knots, spiral knots and Josephine knots.
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