WHEN I AM taking participants on my walking class around the old town of Xàbia (Jávea Historical Walk), I often remember to tell them about the hemp industry that was once a thriving part of village life.
Out on the flats near the port or harbor, families worked at an industry that was absolutely essential for a coastal town, making cord. They used big wooden wheels, like oversized spinning wheels or reels, to twist hemp into cord. The workers, often young boys, children, and women, were known as cordeleros. Their craft was vital for the community, since cord was the foundation for producing rope needed for fishing boats, farming equipment, and household supplies.
When Joaquín Sorolla came to visit Xàbia, he was fascinated by this activity and painted it. In his work "Cordeleros" (1893), you can make out the big reel, or carret, a heavy wooden drum, with figures handling the cordage as they worked. Sometimes a reed sunshade, known locally as a cañizo, shelters them from the sun, and in the background you can see the harbor and fishing boats. Sorolla wasn’t simply documenting a trade, he was studying the brilliance of Valencian light.
The faces of the cordeleros express concentration, while their clothing, the ground, and the background dissolve into lively, loose brush strokes.
It’s important to note that this process only produced cord. The task of braiding that cord into finished rope was done later, often by the families themselves, with mothers, wives, and children working by candlelight at night.
By the mid-20th century, the hemp cord and rope industry in the Valencia region had largely disappeared. Synthetic fibers like nylon and cotton, which were more cost-effective and durable, replaced traditional hemp, and industrial hemp cultivation in Spain had dwindled to a fraction of its former size.
By the 1970s, the work of the cordeleros and the family-based rope-making that once sustained coastal communities like Xàbia had almost completely vanished. Today, the legacy of this essential industry is preserved in historical accounts and artworks such as Joaquín Sorolla’s 1893 painting Cordeleros, which captures the skill, labor, and spirit of a people whose daily work was so intimately tied to the sea and the land.
KID
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Resource Books written by
Karla Ingleton Darocas
and published by
SpainLifestyle.com
Resource Books written by
Karla Ingleton Darocas
and published by
SpainLifestyle.com
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