Before synthetic fibres replaced natural ones, rope was fundamental to almost every form of work — rigging ships, raising buildings, sinking mine shafts, and binding harvests. It also carried a darker history, woven into systems of punishment and control. Artists across many centuries reached for it as a material freighted with meaning. The buildings where workers made it, known as ropewalks, once stood in every major port city and many rural districts, yet historians have largely overlooked them. Age of Rope investigates these structures across Europe and North America from 1500 to 1900, examining how they connected hemp-growing agricultural regions to maritime economies, and how their history opens onto the broader cultural life of rope itself. Led by Professor Christy Anderson, the project draws on archives in England, France, Sweden, the Netherlands, and North America to reconstruct the architectural, economic, and social history of an industry central to early modern life.

The project brings together an international team of scholars and heritage partners, and it carries real urgency: surviving ropewalks face ongoing pressure from demolition and redevelopment. Alongside archival and architectural research, the project maintains a digital map of sites across the Atlantic and Mediterranean worlds, combining historical evidence with visual records in an accessible public resource. Students contribute actively to all phases of the work, gaining hands-on experience in international fieldwork, archival research, and peer-reviewed publication.