Ropewalk

‘Ropewalk’ was created during GroundWork Gallery Residency, 2024 and was presented alongside the Ground Up Conference in November 2024.

Inspired by Kings Lynn’s industrial past and present, I researched the town’s history of rope-making. Once an important part of the shipbuilding and fishing industries, rope was made in Kings Lynn for centuries.

Discovering the town’s historic ropewalks (where rope was once made) using historic maps, I planned a walk threading through nine of the old ropewalks. Tracing the making of the past with footsteps and making of my own, I walked, made cordage and gathered materials; discarded plastic rope gathered from Friars Rope Walk to blackberries and nettle from Salters Road Rope Walk used for natural dyes.

Once locations of significant industry, these places are now mostly overlooked, forgotten places. ‘Ropewalk’ revisits these traces of industrial activity through walking, gathering and making, bringing attention to the histories embedded within the landscape.