About Us

At the heart of the Historic Dockyard Chatham, Master Ropemakers maintains a process of rope making that dates back on this site for more than 400 years.
Rope has been made at The Dockyard since 1618 and now it’s your turn!

Enjoy the entertaining tour, find out how rope is made and why it was so important to the Royal Navy in the Age of Sail,then make a piece of your own.

Utilised for centuries by the Royal Navy, the Master Ropemakers Ropery was once used to produce up to 5000 tonnes of cordage for its fleet of nearly 1000 ships. The Royal Navy has since left the site, but as the Navy shipped out, The Master Ropemakers moved in and our Ropery remains the oldest rope making facility in the UK.

We still use the ¼ mile long rope walk and machinery from the Victorian era, which can be seen on Victorian Ropery Tours, as well as on more modern equipment including our testing house to make our rope. We use natural and synthetic fibres in the manufacture and our teams of craftsmen not only produce the rope but work with it: splicing, knotting, net making and creating bespoke products to customer requirements.

The tradition of producing the finest ropes for the Royal Navy Ships including the most legendary,
HMS Victory (built here at Chatham), continues today with a range of new markets.
Today your custom keeps the ropewalk busy to the evident delight of visitors who witness the process themselves.

Although focusing on standard industrial length coils we are one of the only Ropemakers in the UK prepared to carry out low volume production runs and we extend the customer care and service even further with our very personal and approachable manner. Practical overnight deliveries across the UK and international orders are also very welcome.

We also operate too the latest ISO 9001 standards and all our staff are highly trained and experienced.

For any further details or enquiries at any time, our friendly team members are always on hand to offer advice.

We currently supply a long list of Trade Customers in a variety of sectors with products and services please do not hesitate to call for more information on how we can help you, please click here to view a sample of some of our trade customers.