1. Rope-making at Bridon -Willington Quay, “Then and Now”.
A brief history of rope-making at Willington Quay,
from 1789 to the present day.

2. 1789
First fibre-rope making factory established at W.Q. by William Chapman.

3. 1843 Site taken over by Robert Hood Haggie.
He developed the business and expanded the site to 5 acres (20,200 sq.m.)

4. 1885
Demand for higher BL’s and longer lives, especially for mining – led to start of wire rope production on site.

5. British Ropes. 1924 British Ropes.
Amalgamation to form “British Ropes”.
R.S.Newall & Son.
Thomas & Wm. Smith.
Bullivant & Co.
Haggie Bros.
D.H.& G. Haggie.
George Craddock & Co.
Craven & Speeding Bros.
TyneWire Drawing Co.
British Ropes.
British Ropes.
N.B. R. Hood Haggie still remained independent.

6. 1959 1986 R.Hood Haggie becomes part of British Ropes.
Awarded registration to BS.5750 – now ISO.9001 – the internationally recognised standard for Quality Management Systems.

7. World Records - the “Largest” and the “Longest”.
282 mm – largest diameter wire rope ever manufactured.
25,000m – longest single length wire rope ever manufactured.

8. Bridon 1989 Bri tish Ropes Don caster (H.Q.)
Company name changed to Bridon Ropes.
Bri tish Ropes
Bridon
Don caster (H.Q.)

9. 2008 Where we are today. Output - approx. 26,000 t.p.a.
Employees working 3 shifts.
Rope diameters - from 10 to 140 mm.
Wires per strand - from 7 to 52.
Constructions - round, Dyform, triangular.
Strands per rope - 6, 8, 18 and 34.
Wire tensiles - from 1370 to 2260N/mm².
Finished weights - from 0.5t to 137t.

10. 26,000t - Where does it all go? 4% - Cable belt systems. Mining. 14%
2% - Aerials.
Anchor and drilling lines.
33%
17%
Fishing.
30%
Cranes and Industrial.