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At Marlow Ropes we are always looking to the
future with innovation and development.
However, we never forget our rich and proud heritage and whilst the name Marlow Ropes was originally used as recently as 1957, the story of the Company and the intertwined history of rope making in Hailsham goes back over 200 years.
Marlow Ropes has been making rope in Hailsham for over 200 years and has a world-renowned reputation for quality and innovation. This film shows a ‘behind the scenes’ view of how we make our high-performance rope which supplies the Leisure Marine, Rope Access, Defence, Arboriculture and Industrial markets.
EARLY BEGINNINGS
In 1807 Thomas Burfield founded his rope company in Hailsham, East Sussex – the present-day Marlow factory still manufactures rope on Burfield’s original site. In those days, however, Burfield made ropes from “soft” natural fibres, not only hemps imported from Europe and India but also Cannabis!
In 1830 George Green, an employee of Burfield’s, left to set up a rival factory across town called Green Brothers, making similar products but servicing mainly local industry.
Later that century in 1881, George Hawkins and Alfred Tipson founded Hawkins and Tipson, manufacturing out of the Globe Rope Works in Millwall on the Isle of Dogs, London. Hawkins and Tipson made ropes mainly for the maritime industry from “hard” natural fibres such as manila and sisal.
EXPANSION
Hawkins and Tipson went from strength to strength, rapidly expanding it’s operations, thanks in part to a shortage of Manila fibre during the Spanish American war in 1898, which the Company foresaw and profited from.
In 1941 Hawkins and Tipson bought Green Brothers in Hailsham and 12 years later in 1953 they also bought Green Brothers main competitor, Burfield & Sons in Hailsham. The purpose of these acquisitions was to provide land and capacity for the ever expanding Hawkins and Tipson group.
