Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens
Grimshaw, Webster and Co
Up until the end of the eighteenth century rope was only made along very long walkways where strands of hemp were manually twisted together to make rope. A Sunderland school master, Richard Fothergill, invented a machine to do this in 1793. He died soon after and his executor, John Grimshaw improved the design. Grimshaw went into partnership with Rowland Webster, Ralph Hills and Michael Scarf and the company, Grimshaw, Webster and Co., opened a factory on the banks of the River Wear at Deptford in 1794. This was the first rope factory in the world. In 1795 a steam engine, made by Boulton and Watt of Birmingham, was installed. In 1804 the factory produced 800 tons of rope. The machinery was soon adapted and improved upon by the Royal Navy who used it in their own rope works at the Chatham Dockyard.
Rope was in great demand not only for use on ships but also at collieries. In the 1840s the company went into wire rope making. The building still exists and was restored in 1986.
Grimshaw, Webster and Co
Up until the end of the eighteenth century rope was only made along very long walkways where strands of hemp were manually twisted together to make rope. A Sunderland school master, Richard Fothergill, invented a machine to do this in 1793. He died soon after and his executor, John Grimshaw improved the design. Grimshaw went into partnership with Rowland Webster, Ralph Hills and Michael Scarf and the company, Grimshaw, Webster and Co., opened a factory on the banks of the River Wear at Deptford in 1794. This was the first rope factory in the world. In 1795 a steam engine, made by Boulton and Watt of Birmingham, was installed. In 1804 the factory produced 800 tons of rope. The machinery was soon adapted and improved upon by the Royal Navy who used it in their own rope works at the Chatham Dockyard.
Rope was in great demand not only for use on ships but also at collieries. In the 1840s the company went into wire rope making. The building still exists and was restored in 1986.