Off the Beaten Track in Somerset: Dawe's Twineworks, West Coker

Dawe's Twineworks in the village of West Coker is the only surviving Victorian twineworks with its original working machinery in Britain.

The bedrock which underlies the West Coker area is Yeovil Sandstone and Lower Oolite Cornbrash, which is a crumbly limestone. These rocks create brashy well-drained soils that are ideal for growing flax, hemp and corn. Flax and hemp are the raw materials for making yarn (one thin strand of twisted fibre). Twine is made by twisting together between 2 and 7 strands of yarn. Twine is less than 3mm in diameter

From 1830 until 1875 Israel Rendall, who lived at Millbrook House in West Coker, operated one narrow twine walk in the grounds of his house. In 1877 William John Dawe took over the business and used the existing facilities, He died in 1894 and his brother Henry took over the business.

Henry died in 1899 and his son Francis John Dawe took over. He had a purpose-built twineworks built in 1899. The twineworks was built almost entirely of bolted together timbers and it was roofed in double roman clay tiles made by A.G. Pitts of Highbridge. The east end of the walk, where the manager's office and drying area were located, had timber-boarded walls. The twine walk has open sides. The only solid brick structure was the engine shed, which originally housed a steam engine.

Yarn was twisted into twine on the first floor. Animal guts and skins were boiled up in an outside boiler to produce size. This was applied to the twine by hand on the ground floor of the twine works after it had been washed in water. The twine was then dried and then hanks of it were wound into balls and spools ready for sale.

In the 1920s an oil engine replaced the steam engine. In 1937 Francis John Dawe died and his son Henry Stuart took over the business. He retired in 1968 and closed the twineworks. After his death in 1983, the site was bought by a boat and general dealer, who used it to store his stock.

In 2005 South Somerset District Council compulsorily purchased the twineworks to save it. Scaffolding was erected around the twineworks in 2007 to prevent it from collapsing and the Coker Rope & Sail Trust was formed. The main walk was lifted and straightened out in 2010 and in 2013 the restoration process began. In 2015 a 1927 Shanks diesel engine was lent to the twineworks, to replace the oil engine, which had been sold off in 1968. Funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund was secured in 2016. A visitor centre was built in 2019 on the site of a derelict 1930s bungalow. Dawe's Twineworks is open to the public on the 4th Saturday of every month. Enthusiastic volunteers offer guided tours and run the engine.