£1m scheme to save rundown ropewalk
In a presentation by the Coker Rope and Sail Trust to an executive committee meeting of South Somerset District Council on Thursday, the overall vision and long-term use of the West Coker Ropewalk was outlined to councillors.
An initial development plan, prepared by architects, has been submitted and shows what amounts to a £1M scheme, which includes the restoration of the building itself to allow active exhibitions of the machinery, offices, toilets and a car parking area.
Trust chairman Ross Aitken said: "We have been awarded £80,000 by English Heritage and £40,000 by the district council. This gives us the chance to do all the basic things to keep the building up. We can now stabilise it and really get on our way and it also makes it easier to apply for other funding.
"It is just brilliant and is a huge step forward, and the first lot of scaffolders went on-site at 10am on Tuesday.
"We are now looking for another £500,000 for all machinery and to get it back working inside, and we would like to get a lot of the major work done this year."
The trust has been granted charitable status, and Mr Aitken said its objectives were to advance the education of the public by assisting in the preservation and restoration of the ropewalk, known as Dawes Twineworks, in West Coker. It aims to recreate the working environment by restoring the machinery and staging explanatory exhibits.
It will also collect, collate, research and store material relating to the growing of flax and hemp and how this was used in the rope, sail and netting industry in the area.
Mr Aitken said: "The research and exhibits will focus on the industries in South Somerset and Dorset and how they affected global trade and markets, and the exhibits will be open to the public."
The occupants of the site, elderly couple Dick and Eileen Marks were forced to sell their home to preserve the ropewalk and have still not been re-housed.
They are living in a bungalow on the High Street site and still face eviction after a compulsory purchase order was completed by South Somerset District Council in 2005, when it was claimed they let the most complete surviving rope and twine works in the country fall into a state of critical disrepair.
The order was imposed after the council claimed the couple ignored repeated negotiations to repair the starred grade-two listed building.
A district council spokesman said: "We are still trying to work with them to find them alternative accommodation either on the site or away from it. They are still in the bungalow but will not be able to remain there for much longer and we are in continuing negotiations to find a suitable solution."
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