Liverpool & South West Lancashire FHS - Forum

Rope Making in Liverpool.

My ancestor James Battersby (Born 1811 Lathom and died 1898 Old Swan)was a Rope Maker. Can anyone tell me how to go about finding where the ropemaking works were in Liverpool please?

Thanks

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Liverpool being a port was very involved in anything connected with ships and the sea, especially rope making and there would have been a number of works. The name Ropewalks is still in existence in the new areas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RopeWalks,_Liverpool I find the history of it fascinating - there's a good article here http://www.the-ropewalk.co.uk/ks2th2.pdf

Any Liverpool Directory (Gore's or Kelly's) will have lists of rope makers in the classified section.

D

Welcome aboard Andrea. My gt grandpa, grandpa both worked at the rope works.
They lived in Toxteth Park.
My Auntie Alice bn 1922 also worked at the "Ropey" as it was known.
As Mary has suggested, there is a lot of history in Liverpool for this very important industry.

Had a quick look in 1843 & 1860 directories.

There are a lot of individuals listed and I just picked out a couple of what looked like companies.

1843
Colonial Patent Rope Co. 11 Goree Plazzas

Alexander Robertson & Co. address as above

1860

Edinburgh Ropery Co. 18 James Street

Will try and look for more later, bit busy at the moment!

Rope Makers
(See also Ship Chandlers and Rope Makers.)
Ashton Samuel (dealer), 67 Stanley st
Aspinall, Son and Brooke, Lancelot's hey; works, 86 Lodge lane
Barker Bennett, 3 Gillow terr. Hygeia st
Barker Robert, West Derby road
Bartlett Gamallel, 17 Brunswick st
Blackalier and Mawdsley, 14 Wapping
Brew George, 32 Butler st
Brew William, 103 Brownlow Hill
Butterworth Edwin & Co. (dealers), 63 Waterloo road
Chadwick Daniel & Son (hemp &wire), 13 & 14 Strand st; works, Wavertree rd
Celtart William, Son & Co. 42 Chapel st
Connolly Patrick ,J. (dealer), 50 Naylor st
Dickinson John & Son, 7 Goree piazzas
Dodds William, 31 Wavertree Vale

This is just a small selection from the 1859 Gores Directory, which shows just how important this trade was and how many dealers and manufacturers there were.

Old large-scale maps of Liverpool show many rope works. For example, the Godfrey Edition reproduction of an OS map dated 1908 shows a rope works just off Edge Lane in the Old Swan area, opposite Derby Place and Douro Place.

Another is marked as 'Old Swan Rope Works', running between Ronald Street and St Oswald St.

Some of the addresses listed in earlier posts will have been of sales offices rather than the actual works.

Daggers

Thank you for all the replies about rope making works. I'll check them out - I live in Somerset so can't see any local directories etc.

Andrea

Yes you can http://www2.le.ac.uk/library/find/speci ... irectories

Hi
I see he died at 77. He could have learned his trade in the navy. Would he have still been working in a hard job at 77? There was a rope works off Rathbone Rd. A lot of people in the Old Swan area worked there, one of the main employers in the area. If you key in "Rope works" an old picture should come up.
Regards seeker

Hello

The Ropeworks were a frim called Garnick & Bibby in the Old Swan area. Many women worked on hemp ropes and men worked on metal ropes. The ropes were very important on the docks.

The Rope Works where as previously stated owned by Garnick & Bibby and where major employers from the mid 1800's through to 1960's. I had many relatives who worked in the Rope Works in Old Swan and as Daggers has already said, it ran from Ronald Street L13 through to St Oswald's Street. The back of the factory faced out towards and opposite St Oswald's Church and I can remember as a young boy walking passed the big wooden doors up St Oswald Street listening to the banging and clanging of the machines and smelling what I think was hemp which had a really pungent smell. There were many accidents in the Rope Works, people losing fingers was common, health and safety in those days was almost none existent! The big wooden doors used to be left wide open in the summer and it used to fascinate me looking in and seeing everyone working in what where pretty squalid conditions and everything seemed to be covered in oil. Tesco's are now built on part of which was the Rope Works and when you drive into the car park there the old wall on the left with metal brackets and bricked up windows is the only original part of the Rope Works left. As James Battersby lived in Old Swan it's a pretty safe bet he worked at the Rope Works in Old Swan. There used to be a pub almost opposite the works where the workers used to go when they got paid, the name of the pub escapes me for the moment (Old timers disease!) but it was something like 'The Rope Walks' or similar.

Roy.