Ulverston Rope Walk, Cumbria. Evaluation Report.

Cumbria County Council, propose to re-surface and enhance a footpath between Dragley Beck and Rope Walk House, Ulverston, Cumbria (SD 29060 77638 to SD 30055 77732),
thus creating a greenway. Part of the route of the proposed greenway encompasses the line of a former rope walk. Following the desk-based assessment and submission to
Cumbria County Council of a project design, OA North was commissioned to undertake an evaluation of the rope walk. The work was carried out in July 2005 and aimed to identify any surviving archaeological remains of the rope walk and determine whether they might be affected by the development.
The most significant feature identified during the earlier desk-based assessment was the rope walk itself. According to documentary sources it could have been in operation as
early as 1749-1752 while under the ownership of William Noble. Documents indicated that the Noble family had been involved in the trade at least since the early eighteenth
century; operations appear to have ceased in the mid-to late-nineteenth century, when the rope walk, by then disused, was reused as a tree-lined footpath. Rope making was an important industry in Ulverston, with clear links to the shipping trade; at its peak, around the early nineteenth century, there were at least six rope walks in the town.