Walking the Walk

These two young women, who came striding into my display as I tried to create an image for the Ropewalk, give the impression that this might actually be a form of locomotion like moonwalking or the Lambeth Walk.*

But the street name indicates the place where the long hempen strands woven together in the ropeyard were taken to be stretched and twisted, a backbreaking labour that was once crucial in all ports, large and small, to provide a constant supply of rope and rigging for ships, boats and nautical activities generally.

Here in Fishguard one Benjamin Williams started his ropeworks in the mid 18th century and it continued to operate until the 20th. Sometimes the ropes were so long that they were stretched not just through this narrow lane but over the road and along down past the houses beyond.

The craft of rope-making is now almost extinct but I found that a film has been made about the industry in Ohio. The trailer alone is worth watching - do wait a few seconds for the sound to come in, for the sake of the old man who describes his life work.


* The Lambeth Walk, for anyone unfamiliar with it, is a mock-traditional Londoners' dance routine invented in 1937 for the musical Me and My Girl. It's never ceased to be a popular, if stereotyped, form of unsophisticated knees-up. Here's a typical example with toffs and Cockneys getting it on, featuring the brilliant Robert Lindsey in his younger days (and Emma Thompson, ditto). Corny but I couldn't resist it!