| There were however many other
pieces of decorative ropework on a well furnished narrow boat
which, whilst probably originally invented for functional
reasons, gradually became simply decorative additions. Short
ropes with fancy knitted ends dangled down the cabin sides and
from the watercan and the chimney, and pretty tubes of knotted
ropework adorned with more turks heads plaits were strained taut
down the back of the rudder. Ropes originally tied over a folded
tarpaulin top cloth to stop it blowing away became permanent
neat geometric designs in rope, with the spare ends coiled and
tucked under the tight white ropework lines like little wheels.
The ropework was white because it was cotton, and
it was cotton because that was the best available material for
the horse boat towing lines. They had to be strong, but have
sufficient elasticity to equalise the jerking of the horses'
movements into a steady cumulative pull at the mast. However,
these lines wore out very quickly, constantly rubbing against
the brickwork of locks and bridges, and a working horse boat
would need a new one every week or two, leaving masses of short,
part-worn pieces of line to make tying-up ropes, or provide the
raw material for fiddly decorative ropework to pass the time of
an idle evening. When scrubbed a few times with clean water
these rope designs would dry out "as white as the driven snow",
highlighting the paintwork and providing yet another layer of
pattern to the narrow boat's palette of designs.
The total number of knots and hitches used on
the canal was not great, but repetition was the key to their
decorative effectiveness. Big fenders are covered with a tight
network of half hitches, whilst pretty little ones for the butty
rudder might be woven round a core with a pattern like a
spider’s web, or built out as a tight coil held in place with
strands tucked through the lay of the rope. Much use is made of
continuous wall-knotting to create a decorative knitted end to a
rope, working the three strands back over the standing part as a
core, finally tucking them back through the lay of the rope like
a splice. The same principle, using six strands worked back over
a long eye splice, finished off with a turks head, results in a
purely ornamental ropework pendant to hang from the towing mast
when not in use, the 'mast dropper', and continuous wall
knotting produces the graceful 'swans neck' tube of ropework for
the back of the rudder mentioned previously.
The effect of all these knitted strands and
patterns of white rope on the outside of the boat is not
dissimilar to that of the thick crochet work done by the boat
woman for her cabin interior, both clearly parts of a related
family of handicrafts that beautified the boat family's home and
workplace, and gladdened the heart. Even the horse sometimes had
crocheted ear caps to keep the flies out. |
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