Image: This photograph of about 1897 shows Lowe’s Rope Manufactory, the most important in Bewdley, against a steam train and railway viaduct of the Severn Valley Railway. To the left finished ropes are shown laid up on stretchers. In the yard two men stand in the background with two-wheeled carts in front.
[Image from: Bewdley Museum]
Summary
The records of Lowe’s Rope Manufactory provide a detailed picture of one significant Bewdley business. They provide an insight into the experiences of its owners and workers and the nature of its markets and customers in the 19th and 20th centuries. Remarkably, photographs also survive, which present people at work, the tools they used and the machines which turned flax into rope and twine. These varied sources enable more to be written about this local industry than most other manufacturing concerns in the town.
Sections: [Click on the images on the right to access each section]
1. Rope Making and Bewdley
2. Lowe’s Rope and Twine Manufactory (1)
3. Lowe’s Rope and Twine Manufactory (2)
4. Work and Labour (1)
5. Work and Labour (2)
6. Products and Markets (1)
7. Products and Markets (2)
8. Rope Making: Dressing or Hackling
9. Rope Making: Spinning
10. Rope Making: Laying the Rope
11. Rope Making: Inserting the Tops
12. Rope Making: Stretching
13. Rope Making: Mechanisation
14. The Decline of Rope Making
Copyright information: Copyrights
to all resources are retained by the individual rights
holders. They have kindly made their collections available
for non-commercial private study & educational use.
Re-distribution of resources in any form is only permitted
subject to strict adherence to the guidelines in the Full
Terms and Conditions statement.
