Did you know that bell ropes are grown on farms?
Well, the raw materials are, anyway.
Traditionally, ropes in the British Isles have been made from flax or hemp which are both products of agriculture. In Tudor and Elizabethan times, when change ringing was experiencing its first flourishing, both flax and hemp were grown extensively for both weaving and cordage, and there are many areas in our diocese, especially near the coast, which specialised in their production for cordage which was required on sea and on land.
Flax is an ancient crop which was introduced by the very first farmers who arrived here some six-and-a-half thousand years ago and its use to make woven fabric, which is called linen, predates that of wool by several thousand years. The long fibres in flax plants are very fine and strong and can be up to a metre long making it ideal for spinning for fabric as well as cording to make more heavy duty rope. These days we mostly recognise the crop by its show of sky-blue flowers sported by varieties being grown for their oily seeds (linseed) rather than its fibrous stems, but this sight would have been much more commonly seen by our ancestors; the two crops looking very similar with the principle difference being the length of the stem and the stage of maturity when they are cropped.
It is generally accepted that hemp was introduced from Asia during the economic expansion of the Roman period and was soon widely adopted as a more productive alternative to flax; its fibres being twice as long at two metres, though its extra thickness makes the material both more durable and rougher at the same time.
So important was the production of cordage for the Navy in Tudor times that in 1533 Henry VIII imposed a penalty for any farmer who did not grow flax or hemp. This was sustained by Queen Elizabeth, who in 1563 famously decreed that for every 60 acres of land, farmers must provide at least one acre of land for growing “Linseed, otherwise called Flax, or Hemp-seed”, the aim was to cut the need for imports from countries who may become hostile and cut off supply during this period of competitive colonial expansion.
Both flax and hemp are used in the production of bell ropes: hemp is more durable but flax is finer and gentler on the hands – I have observed that the choice often depends on whether they are ordered by ringers or church wardens!
The two materials share a common drawback in that they expand and contract according to the weather and seasonally induced humidity in the air which can make them either too long or too short from one week to the next. They can also be stretchy, making bells that are not frequently rung far more difficult to strike well. To overcome these tendencies, especially in towers with a long draught where the impact is far greater, these days we often use rope made from prestretched polyester (sometimes called Terylene) for the “tops” which is spliced to the natural rope about 18 inches above the sally.
It seems that flax grown for fibre in this country may be about to enjoy a comeback according to this recent article in the Farmers Weekly, and this article about a farm in Scotland goes into detail about how flax for fibre is pulled by hand and retted in the traditional way.
And while we are talking about hemp, it’s worth noting that the strains grown for fibre contain next-to-none of the compounds that the varieties grown for other recreational pursuits are known for!
So next time you grab hold, reflect for a moment that you are using a technology originating many thousands of years ago, developed between the Reformation and the Restoration, and further refined most recently with the use of modern polymers.
Andy Waring
