BRITAIN'S only remaining cotton rope manufacturer has made its last length.

Britannia Rope and Twine Company on Elm Street, Edenfield, will close next month and the building will be demolished.

The company's three directors are the sole workers at the premises which was once a hive of industry employing 60 people and producing seven to eight tonnes of rope per year and 60 miles of washing line weekly.

Terry Broadbent, Jack Bamford and Colin Ward are all well past retirement age and have each worked for the business for more than 50 years.

They admitted it would be sad to close but as there was no one to sell the business to they had no other option.

The firm, established in 1886, was later taken over by John Turner whose rope company in Rochdale was founded in the 1840s.

At that time every town in Lancashire had a rope walk and Terry said: "There were three in Blackburn, two in Haslingden, one in Waterfoot, one in Burnley and one in Nelson. We have been the only one left for the past 20 to 30 years and for the last two to three years we have only operated the rope walk on a three-day week although the business has run all week."

A 'rope walk' is a 100 yard enclosure where the rope is made by putting twists into the cotton length.

Terry said rope making machines can be easily bought these days but they don't make a continuous long length of rope which some professions -- such as the circus and farming trades demand.

When the company closes, only two rope walks will remain in Britain -- a shorter one in North Yorkshire and one at the Royal Navy Dockyard in Chatham, Kent.

It is hoped Helmshore Textile Museums will preserve the machinery so that visitors can see it in and maybe see a 'mini rope walk' in action.

Unfortunately the foot and mouth crisis has also taken a toll on the rope manufacturers because a lot of its business was making rope for bridles and harnesses which would be used for animals being shown at the agricultural fairs which have had to be cancelled because of the outbreak.

Part of the land where the factory stands is to be given to Edenfield Cricket Club to extend its ground.