RopeWalks is a name given to a vicinity of
Liverpool city centre
Liverpool city centre is the commercial, cultural, financial and historical centre of Liverpool, England.
The inner city districts of Vauxhall, Everton, Edge Hill, Kensington and Toxteth mark the border with Liverpool city centre which consi ...
that runs from Lydia Ann Street to Renshaw Street widthways, and from Roscoe Street to Hanover Street lengthwise.
The name is derived from the craft of rope-making for sailing ships that dominated the area until the 19th century. It is characterised by its long, straight streets running parallel to each other. The streets were built in this way to allow rope manufacturers to lay the ropes out lengthways during production. There are a number of historic warehouse buildings and it owes much of its character to the rope-making industry.
The area includes the
Foundation for Art and Creative Technology
FACT Liverpool is a new media arts centre in Liverpool, England. The building houses galleries, a cinema operated by Picturehouse Cinemas, Picturehouse, a bar and a café.
History
FACT was established as an organisation focussed on video and n ...
, Europe's oldest established
Chinatown, the grand façade of
St. Luke's bombed-out Church, and a number of cafés, bars and clubs.
Ropes were made in fields but ropemakers bought or rented thin long strips of land. It was the sale of these thin strips, one by one at different times, that led to long thin streets with few interconnections. The streets themselves were not used in manufacture, the roperies pre-dated the streets.
[Pevsner Liverpool Guide map of roperies]
See also
*
Ropewalk
A ropewalk is a long straight narrow lane, or a covered pathway, where long strands of material are laid before being twisted into rope. Due to the length of some ropewalks, workers may use bicycles to get from one end to the other.
Many rope ...
References
External links
RopeWalks Liverpool websiteliverpool.gov.ukRopewalks
{{Liverpool City Centre
Entertainment districts in the United Kingdom
Liverpool