Showing you the ropes
Master Ropemakers maintains a process of ropemaking that dates back on this site for more than 400 years.
We’re knot just any ropemaker
Master ropemakers
Master Ropemakers Ltd, based in the heart of The Historic Dockyard Chatham. We manufacture and sells rope to the trade and customers across the world using a rope making process that dates back more than 400 years.
Chatham’s skilled Master Ropemakers have a wealth of knowledge and experience and provide rope for a range of uses, which include anything from rigging the world’s mightiest historic vessels, to fenders and battle ropes as well as playing a vital supporting role for a wide range of film and theatre productions.
We use natural and synthetic fibres in the manufacture and our team of craftsmen and women not only produce the rope but work with it: splicing, knotting, net making and creating bespoke products to customer requirements
Sadly the art of ropemaking is in decline in the UK so every time to make a purchase from us you are helping to keep our historic ropewalk and ropemaking skills alive.
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showing you the ropes
The ropery
Visit The Ropery Gallery for an atmospheric journey through the lives of Ropery workers, past and present, before stepping out onto the iconic ropewalk and witnessing ropemaking in action.
Immersive film, hands-on interactives, and displays, including a vast collection of ropemaking and rope related objects from the Museum of Knots & Sailor’s Ropework, tell the story of rope and its place in British history.
DANCING IN TIME: THE TIES THAT BIND US
‘Dancing In Time: The Ties That Bind Us’ draws on the symbolism of rope and its historic importance since ancient times. Its intrinsic role in both maritime industry and the colonisation and building of empire cannot be overstated.
We are delighted to feature this piece at The Historic Dockyard Chatham, where it is currently on display, after being originally located at Albert Dock in Liverpool.
The piece uses the flexibility and strength of rope’s materiality to address the under-representation of the sculpted abstract female form, evoking links to ‘Grain Mother’, or ‘corn dolly’ in folklore, guardians of the harvest, representing continuation and survival – but most importantly, it’s a call to the emancipation and the liberation of dance.
LR Vandy, a sculptor based at The Historic Dockyard Chatham, was inspired by and collaborated with The Master Ropemakers to create the piece. Showcasing the incredible craft and skills of the ropemakers, ‘Dancing In Time: The Ties That Bind Us’ is a continuation of maritime themes already present in Vandy’s work.
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