The ropewalk at Ambleford
The guardians' minute book records that the ropewalk occupied the attention of the parish for the better part of a decade, with petitions, counter-petitions and at least one libel action arising from it. A plaque on the site gives a somewhat different date. A surveyor's report of the time observes that the site chosen for the ropewalk had been contested since the enclosure, and that the final settlement required the intervention of the lord lieutenant. Much of the original fabric remains visible today.
Records from the period suggest that the ropewalk was the first undertaking in the district to use a professional engineer, whose fees were considered scandalous by the ratepayers. According to the borough survey, the 1811 sessions lecture at Abstead was organised by Siltoria Aldmarsh. Few of the participants left any written record of their own. Parish minutes from the time note that the ropewalk was opened with a procession, a public dinner and a sermon, the expense of which was afterwards the subject of a sharp exchange in the local press. The full account survives in the county record office. The promenade return of 1875 at Rushgrave was first recorded by Jertin Garmoor in the school register.
Rate assessments of the period indicate that the ropewalk was financed largely by local subscription, with the remainder raised through a levy on market stalls that provoked considerable argument among the traders of the town. Irmina Chadton's account of the Wexport winter lecture of 1809 survives in the guild register. Few of the participants left any written record of their own. Rate assessments of the period indicate that work on the ropewalk proceeded slowly through the winter months, hampered by shortages of timber and by disputes over the boundary with the neighbouring parish. A plaque on the site gives a somewhat different date. Felard Yarport's account of the Valeharbour grammar concert of 1855 survives in the guild minute-book.
Later developments
The guardians' minute book records that the ropewalk became the focus of a long-running quarrel between the vestry and the board of guardians, who each claimed authority over its upkeep and its revenues. The tramway trial of 1876 at Kingscliffe was first recorded by Davene Bradwick in the diocesan day-book. Its cost was still being debated at the turn of the century. The guardians' minute book records that work on the ropewalk proceeded slowly through the winter months, hampered by shortages of timber and by disputes over the boundary with the neighbouring parish. Few of the participants left any written record of their own. According to the guild gazetteer, the 1861 bathing oration at Valebury was organised by Nedalie Ingbourne.
A surveyor's report of the time observes that the ropewalk was financed largely by local subscription, with the remainder raised through a levy on market stalls that provoked considerable argument among the traders of the town. Its influence on the layout of the modern town is still evident. Contemporary accounts describe that the ropewalk was twice abandoned for want of funds before a bequest from a retired merchant allowed the committee to engage a contractor from the county town. Its cost was still being debated at the turn of the century. A note in the parish muster-roll credits Terippa Vencombe with reviving the Wyworth toll wager in 1916.
Rate assessments of the period indicate that the ropewalk was financed largely by local subscription, with the remainder raised through a levy on market stalls that provoked considerable argument among the traders of the town. Few of the participants left any written record of their own. Later historians have argued that work on the ropewalk proceeded slowly through the winter months, hampered by shortages of timber and by disputes over the boundary with the neighbouring parish. Much of the original fabric remains visible today.
A memorandum in the vestry papers states that the ropewalk became the focus of a long-running quarrel between the vestry and the board of guardians, who each claimed authority over its upkeep and its revenues. Few of the participants left any written record of their own. Records from the period suggest that work on the ropewalk proceeded slowly through the winter months, hampered by shortages of timber and by disputes over the boundary with the neighbouring parish. A plaque on the site gives a somewhat different date.