REGIONAL RUNNER-UP: Dawe's Twine Works, West Coker, Somerset

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• 1. Background
• 2. Regional Information
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Background

• Listing: Grade 2*
• Date of building: 1803-1889
• Web: west.coker.net/dawes.htm
• Dawe's Twine Works Gallery
• Dawe's Twine Works Virtual Tour

Set within a complex of 19th and early 20th century buildings, the Grade II* Listed ropewalk at Dawe's Twine Works is believed to be the most complete surviving example of a late 19th century rural twine works. The works were acquired by the Dawe family in 1889 and point twine went on to be manufactured by three subsequent generations of the family until the closure of the works in 1968. The Ropewalk is of particular historic significance as it retains much of its original machinery.

Originally, hand winding would have taken place in the open, but the introduction of machinery to the process necessitated cover while retaining airy conditions. The Ropewalk at Dawe's Twine Works comprises two floors – the upper floor where the twine was wound and the lower open-sided floor where it would have been finished off. This 100-yard-long mainly timber building would have required its workers to walk the equivalent of 12 miles a day during the winding process.

Power for the mechanised winding would have first been provided by a steam engine set in the only brick building on the site – the engine house. The steam engine would later be replaced by an oil-gas engine and later still by electric motors.

Today the ropewalk appears substantially dilapidated. The weight of the roman clay tile roof is such that it requires support from scaffolding and chains tied to trees to prevent the building's collapse.

It is hoped that restoration would not only help to preserve the fabric of this unique record of this major part of the heritage of Somerset, but also provide funds for the creation of new visitor facilities.

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