Vallois ropeworks industrial museum

The museum on the banks of the River Cailly at Notre-Dame-de-Bondville, west of Rouen, is located in a former ropeworks, a partially timber-framed building of 1822. The factory was re-equipped in 1880, and the French and English machines installed at that time remained in use until operations ceased in 1978. The machines, operated by leather belts from overhead shafts worked by waterwheels, are still demonstrated. They produced a variety of products using the basic techniques employed in ropemaking, including cotton braiding for embroidery and strapwork as well as ropes for climbing and other purposes.