Theme 3

A Story set in the Victorian Ropery

KS2 History and Literacy

Chatham Ropery spinning room 1902

Activity 1: Accident at Mr Hall’s Ropery Read the story as a class.

• When and where is it set? • Storyboard the plot in four frames.

Ask pupils to find and mark/highlight any places in the story which show reference to the hatchelling house, parting room or the mill. Reread each setting description and ask pupils to pick out the sights, sounds and smells for each.

• What do you imagine each of these places was like?

• Which words, phrases and sentences help create a vivid setting?

Activity 2: Using historical sources to develop setting Look at each setting sheet in turn and use the background notes to help pupils imagine the sights, sounds and smells in each setting. Either working as a class or in groups, stick one of the pictures into the centre of the setting resource sheet. Use this to create word and phrase banks to describe the setting. Use the story to help draw inferences from the pictures about the sounds and smells. NB. The ropewalk and the tar shed are not directly mentioned in the story although there is a reference to the smell of tar around the factory.

Activity 3: Using documents to find out about the workers in the factory The pack contains three extracts from documents which each reveal something about the workers in the factory. Data from the census can tell us about the numbers of workers, their jobs, and the division of labour between men, women and children. Extracts from an apprenticeship indenture and the Wesleyan School log book are useful for finding out about child workers. Census What is a census? How is a census collected? What might a census be able to tell us about the ropery? Draw a graph using the census data. Not all the workers were recorded on this

census as many worked part time, particularly the women working in the mills. Discuss each of the jobs using the pictures to help. Indenture What is an indenture? How long was this agreement for? How old was the worker when it was signed? What can you learn from this document about work at the ropery in 1850? (employed child workers, wages for children) School log book extract What was the role of the attendance officer? Who does Mr Jackson blame for children working in factories instead of attending school? Why do you think it was difficult to make sure all children went to school? Pupils could do some research to find out how the workers were affected by the Education Act of 1870 and the Factory Act of 1878. Activity 4: Writing in the style of Dickens The extract can be used as a model for pupils’ own descriptions of the Victorian ropery in Barton to create a vivid setting for the reader. Activity 5: Dangers in the Ropery The photograph shows belt driven machinery similar to that used in the Victorian period. Look at the picture as a class and discuss the possible dangers of working in the mill. Read the news article; where have you heard this story before? Pupils could use one of the reported incidents as a starting point for their own stories. Activity 6: The Ropewalk Use the 19th century engraving of a ropewalk as a visual text to compare with the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Activity 7: The impact of mechanisation Read the information sheet and discuss the possible views of the factory owner and the workers towards the new machinery.

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The Victorian Ropery - Teaching Notes

Accident at Mr Hall’s Ropery

Fourteen years old and in need of a job - it was either brickworks or Ropery.

M’ dad said to try at Ropery where uncle Harry worked, because they always

needed good strong lads. I didn’t want to, but I had t’ go.

So on the first Monday morning in June, with the sun warm on my back, I turned

up at Ropery gates. As I went through, I got a whiff of the tar they used to coat

the ropes. You could smell it all down Waterside; they said you could tell a

ropeworker ten yards off by the smell. They’d be saying that about me from now

on. I reported to Old Mr Siddons who was foreman in charge. He called John

Foster and said he was to show me round, but not to take too long about it. I knew

John Foster well as he lived on Waterside and had once shown me where you could

find tadpoles in a flooded ditch. Mr Siddons took him aside, though I don’t know

why because I could hear every word, and told him to take off his navy blue

neckerchief, which he said might have been allowed elsewhere, but was a danger in

the Ropery, and that he wouldn’t be asking him again or he’d be down the road.

‘Yes, Mr Siddons. Course I will.’ John began to untie the neckerchief, but he never

did take it off.

‘Won’t you get in trouble?’ I said.

‘Only if he sees me.’ He said and tucked it inside his shirt.

On that first day we walked up to the mill, I remarked on how the ground shook.

John Foster opened the door to an almighty noise. I had never seen or heard

steam powered machines at work except if you count the train at Barton Station.

But even that had not prepared me for the great clattering contraptions that spun

the strands of twine into ropes. The noise thundered through my boots until my

bones rattled and I could no longer think of anything except the desire to be out of

that place. I put my hands over my ears. John Foster pulled them away. He

shouted out and I nodded, but in truth I made little sense of what he said. ‘You’ll

get used to it,’ he bellowed.

I wasn’t sure I wanted to.

My first job was mostly fetching and carrying for Mr Givens. He opened the bales of

hemp as they arrived and took out the rubbish, as he’d call it. Then I’d take the

bundles of good hemp to where it’d be combed out straight before going to the

spinners. The rubbish would go to the tow mill. It was also my job to make sure a

full pint of whale oil went on every bundle and some days my hands were so soft

from that oil that the women would say, ‘Look at ’im, hands soft as a shop girl’s.’

Mr Givens didn’t speak much other than to tell me what I had to do. And I learned

mostly from watching him as he worked, always his pipe, unlit between his teeth.

Soon I learned to tell the good from bad as he showed me. And as long as I was

there when needed, we had no cross words. There were things I heard said about

Mr Givens such that he was a man of the church and didn’t have much time for

dissenters, which as my family were Weslyan, meant I would not be approved of.

But I found him to be a good man and in those weeks, what I learned has stayed

with me for many years of working at the Ropery. Foremost of which was the

lesson of taking notice of your elders.

Most days I saw John Foster and often we’d walk home together. Although

sometimes he’d hang back and seemed like he was waiting. I noticed he always

wore that neckerchief - most times he didn’t bother to tuck it inside his shirt. I

found out why when it was made known to me that Mary Chapman had given it to

him and said she’d be his sweetheart.

One morning when I had taken a barrow load of newly parted hemp to the mill for

spinning, I stopped to watch the women work the great machines, the quickness of

their hands and the way they worked so nimble, always taking care their skirts

never got caught.

I recall that the first anyone knew something was wrong was from the change in

the music of the machines. Like a note on a piano that didn’t ought to be played. I

looked up and the shaft from which the belts turned the machines seemed to groan

with an unusual labour. I was opposite Annie Nelton. She stood back from her

work in an instant, looked down the row of machines and I could see in her eyes

that something was not right.

The machines slowed down to a stop.

John Foster hung like a rag, his feet lifted from the ground. Someone said he was

gone already. The mill fell silent. Mr Siddons was sent for and he and the other

men set John Foster down on some pieces of sacking. Blood came from his nose

and mouth. They found a rag and wiped it away. He breathed shallow breaths. As

the youngest and quickest, I was sent to fetch Dr Wilkinson.

I ran as fast as I could without stopping. Dr Wilkinson was at his lunch and Mrs

Wilkinson seemed reluctant to disturb him, but I kicked up a fuss, so much so that

he came to the door. When I told him about the accident, he came straight away

and followed me down to the Ropery.

John Foster was where they had laid him, still and silent, his face seemed whiter.

Someone had rolled up their coat and placed it under his head. Dr Wilkinson knelt

and listened to his chest. Felt gently around his throat. An ugly wound showed

where he had been hung. ‘Another minute more and he’d have gone,’ he said. And

that was all he said.

Mr Siddons told me to find John Foster’s mother at her work and tell her of the

accident, and be quick about it. As I ran out, I tripped and sprawled on my hands

and knees. I remember that on the floor, in amongst the dust and old rope ends,

were tattered bits of a navy blue neckerchief.

Nick Triplow (copyright 2007)

The Hatchelling House

“My first job was mostly fetching and carrying for Mr Givens. He

opened the bales of hemp as they arrived and took out the

rubbish, as he’d call it. Then I’d take the bundles of good hemp to

where it’d be combed out straight before going to the spinners.

The rubbish would go to the tow mill. It was also my job to make

sure a full pint of whale oil went on every bundle and some days

my hands were so soft from that oil that the women would say,

‘Look at ’im, hands soft as a shop girl’s.’”

A hatchel used in the hatchelling house to comb the fibres.

The Spinning Mill

“But even that had not prepared me for the great clattering

contraptions that spun the strands of fibre into yarn. The noise

thundered through my boots until my bones rattled and I could

no longer think of anything except the desire to be out of that

place. I put my hands over my ears.”

The Tar Shed

“As I went through, I got a whiff of the tar they used to coat the

ropes. You could smell it all down Waterside; they said you could

tell a rope worker ten yards off by the smell. They’d be saying

that about me from now on.”

The Ropewalk

Yarns from the mill were stretched out down the building and

twisted together into strands by large hooks at either end. The

top, set on a top cart was forced down the ropewalk at great

speed by the twisting strands. The bells at each end rang to give

the signal to stop the steam powered machines; this was the only

way of communicating with those working at the other end.

It took a team of many rope makers to lift and attach the strands

to the machinery. There was no heating in the building and no

windows either. The floor was bare earth covered with tiles; it

frequently flooded and was often covered with ice in winter.

Background notes

The Hatchelling House

The bales of hemp were lifted from the barges on the Haven by the hoist.

The bales were parted into smaller bundles and taken to the hatchelling

room. Here, the fibres were combed and cleaned before being spun. The

dressers pulled the fibres through a hatchel to straighten out the fibres and

take out the short waste fibre called tow. They poured whale oil on the

hemp when it was hatchelled to soften the fibres. The oil had a very strong

fish smell, once on your hands it was very difficult to get the smell out. The

air was filled with the tiny pieces of tow fibre.

The Mill

The fibres were spun into yarn in the mill. They were spun on large spinning

machines that ran continuously. If the yarn broke, someone had to reach

between the spinning bobbins to join the ends together again while the

machines continued. It was mostly women and children who worked in the

mills. Workers constantly had to dodge the spinning belts, gears and wheels;

it was not uncommon for finger ends to be caught in the machines. The air

was filled with dust and pieces of greasy hemp fibre. The women wore long

dresses and had their hair covered to prevent it being caught in the

machines.

The Tar shed

Ropes made from hemp were not waterproof and would eventually rot if

used in water. Ropes to be used on ships were treated with tar to make

them waterproof. This took place in the tarring shed. Large copper vats were

heated to high temperatures before the yarns were dipped in. The tar had a

strong and pungent smell which could be smelt all around the Ropery site

and across Waterside. Work in the tar shed was often dangerous because of

the heat of the flames and the danger of the hemp catching fire.

The Ropewalk

A ropewalk is the name of the strip of land or building where a rope is made.

The Barton Ropewalk is 400 metres or 1/4 mile long. This is where yarns

and strands were twisted together to make rope. The building had to be

long to keep the yarns straight and the strands regular while they were

being twisted. Flood gaps were made to allow water to flow through the

building when the Haven overflowed. Buttresses were built along part of the

building as support against flooding.

I can see…. I can hear….

I can smell…

Stick your picture here

Setting:

Who were the Victorian rope factory workers?

The Ropery Buzzer

Each morning the workers were brought into work by

the buzzer sound at 5:30am. The buzzer sounded

again at 6:00am to mark the start of the shift. The

gates closed and any late comers were turned away.

At 6:00pm the buzzer sounded again to mark the end

of the twelve hour shift.

Table listing workers at the rope factory in Barton from the 1891 census Use the data to create a graph to show how many men, women and children there were working at the factory.

Women

(aged 15-38)

Factory Operator Spinner

8 2

Men

(aged 15 -73)

Rope maker Hand spinner Twine maker Mill foreman

Labourer Hemp Dresser

20 4 6 1 6 15

Girls

(aged 14)

Mill worker 1

Boys (aged 12-14)

Wheel turner for twine maker Spinner’s wheel turner Apprentice rope maker Rope maker’s labourer

Mill worker

2 2 4 3 3

Use the list of jobs from the 1891 census to help you decide what you think the workers are doing in each picture.

A

B

C

D

E

F

Barton Wesleyan School Log Book, 24 June 1878

‘ ….Had a talk last week with Mr Wright, the attendance officer, respecting the

irregular attendance of scholars, and told him that greater numbers are illegally

absent from school, and that the public are getting very sceptical as to the

ability of any one to compel their children to go to school. The law …is most

certainly defied by both parents and employers, and notably by rope factories.

Mr Jackson, Headmaster

How can we find out about children

working at the factory?

Indenture signed in 1854 between George Appleyard (11 years old) and John Hall

The said George Appleyard hath of his own free will and consent of his

father bound himself apprentice to John Hall for a term of seven years.

The said master will instruct him or cause him to be taught, learnt and

instructed in the art of Rope Making. Also shall find and provide for him

the said apprentice sufficient and suitable weekly wages. That is to say

four shillings per week for the first year. Five shillings per week for the

second and third year. Six shillings per week for the fourth and fifth year

and to be allowed one pair of shoes yearly.

How can you create a vivid setting?

“Ding, Clash, Dong, BANG, Boom, Rattle, Clash, BANG, Clink, BANG, Dong,

BANG, Clatter, BANG BANG BANG! What on earth is this! This is, or soon

will be, the Achilles, iron armour-plated ship. Twelve hundred men are

working at her now; twelve hundred men working on stages over her sides,

over her bows, over her stern, under her keel, between her decks, down in

her hold, within her and without, crawling and creeping into the finest

curves of her lines wherever it is possible for men to twist. Twelve hundred

hammerers, measurers, caulkers, armourers, forgers, smiths, shipwrights;

twelve hundred dingers, clashers, dongers, rattlers, clinkers, bangers

bangers bangers!”

The Uncommercial Traveller by Charles Dickens (1860) In Dickens’ description of Chatham dockyard he uses three lists; the places

people are working, the jobs they are doing and the sounds they are making, to

create a setting with a busy, hardworking and noisy atmosphere.

Make three lists:

1. Make a list of all the places and buildings people are working in at the rope

factory in Barton.

2. Make a list of all the jobs they are doing.

3. Make a list of all the sounds and smells around Barton ropery

There were around 150 workers at the ropery, men, women and children.

Imagine you have just arrived at the Victorian ropery as a visitor. Use your notes

to describe your first impressions of the ropery. Write in lists to create a picture

of a busy factory for the reader. Try using repetition of words in your lists to

develop this effect.

What were the dangers of working in the

rope factory?

Accident at Barton Ropery

Two singular accidents have recently happened at Mr

Hall’s ropery. A youth named Foster who wore a

neckerchief with loose ends, was engaged in spinning, and

approaching too near the revolving lines the loose ends

of his neckerchief got entangled and he was almost

strangled: when liberated blood gushed from his mouth and

nostrils. Dr Wilkinson was sent for, and stated the

duration of the pressure for a few moments would have

caused death. The other boy who wore a smock frock also

got entangled in the revolving lines by means of his

frock and was spun round and round in mid air with great

velocity, but he was uninjured.

Reported in Stanford Mercury 1858

Belt driven machinery in one of the mills

THE ROPEWALK IN that building, long and low,

With its windows all a-row,

Like the port-holes of a hulk,

Human spiders spin and spin,

Backward down their threads so thin

Dropping, each a hempen bulk.

At the end, an open door;

Squares of sunshine on the floor

Light the long and dusky lane;

And the whirring of a wheel,

Dull and drowsy, makes me feel

All its spokes are in my brain.

As the spinners to the end

Downward go and reascend,

Gleam the long threads in the sun;

While within this brain of mine

Cobwebs brighter and more fine

By the busy wheel are spun.

Two fair maidens in a swing,

Like white doves upon the wing,

First before my vision pass;

Laughing, as their gentle hands

Closely clasp the twisted strands,

At their shadow on the grass.

Then a booth of mountebanks,

With its smell of tan and planks,

And a girl poised high in air

On a cord, in spangled dress,

With a faded loveliness,

And a weary look of care.

Then a homestead among farms,

And a woman with bare arms

Drawing water from a well;

As the bucket mounts apace,

With it mounts her own fair face,

As at some magician's spell.

Then an old man in a tower,

Ringing loud the noontide hour,

While the rope coils round and round

Like a serpent at his feet,

And again, in swift retreat,

Nearly lifts him from the ground.

Then within a prison-yard,

Faces fixed, and stern, and hard,

Laughter and indecent mirth;

Ah! it is the gallows-tree!

Breath of Christian charity,

Blow, and sweep it from the earth!

Then a school-boy, with his kite

Gleaming in a sky of light,

And an eager, upward look;

Steeds pursued through lane and field;

Fowlers with their snares concealed;

And an angler by a brook.

Ships rejoicing in the breeze,

Wrecks that float o'er unknown seas,

Anchors dragged through faithless sand;

Sea-fog drifting overhead,

And, with lessening line and lead,

Sailors feeling for the land.

All these scenes do I behold,

These, and many left untold,

In that building long and low;

While the wheel goes round and round,

With a drowsy, dreamy sound,

And the spinners backward go.

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The Ropewalk

Why did people disagree about the new machinery?

During the Victorian period, new machines were invented that replaced the

processes traditionally done by hand.

In 1800, each stage in the process of rope making was carried out by hand by

highly skilled workers. By 1900, there were machines to replace much of this

work.

Hand spinning

Traditionally the hemp was spun into yarn by hand.

Hand spinning was a very skilled job. Young boys

were employed as apprentices in spinning and rope

making for seven years before they were fully

trained. A hand spinner had to walk at just the right

speed to keep the yarn smooth and make sure it was

the correct thickness.

Machine Spinning

By 1850, Barton Ropery was powered by steam

and some spinning was done by machines in the

mill.

Machine spinning was much faster and only

needed a machine operator to change the

bobbins. It was mostly women who were

employed at the factory to do this job since it

did not need a skilled spinner and women were paid less than men.

What do you think the advantages were of the new spinning machines?

Who might not have wanted them? Why?