Lion Saltworks Rises from Ashes

There’s great news for Cheshire history fans – funding to restore Northwich’s famous Lion Saltworks at Marston has been agreed at last. There’s a new blog where you can see updates on the works and photos of the restoration work.

Salt was made by evaporation in huge pans at the works, which were owned by the Thompson family. Salt was transported in narrowboats along the Trent & Mersey Canal down to the Anderton Boat Lift, then continued its journey along the River Weaver.

If your ancestors were Cheshire salt workers, I recently wrote a feature for BBC Who Do You Think You Are? on tracing your family tree.

There are plans to open the restored salt works to visitors again in 2014 as a ‘living museum’. It would be great if the new visitor centre could include salt-making demonstrations, but we’ll have to wait until more details are available to find out.

Update June 2014: the proposed opening date for the newly restored Lion Saltworks is now spring 2015. We drove past the site recently and it's beginning to look very spick and span.

Photo: Lion Saltworks prior to restoration. A salt waggon at the Lion Saltworks, Marston. © Sue Wilkes.

A New Year Walk along the River Weaver

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you all had a peaceful Christmas.

One of the nice things about living in this part of Cheshire is that we always find something interesting to see on our walks. Yesterday we explored the Weaver Parkway from Winsford. At first the path, which meanders along the River Weaver, passes by the Winsford Rock Salt Mine. Salt from the mine helps keep our roads safe in winter.
During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries salt from Northwich and Winsford was transported along the River Weaver and the Trent & Mersey Canal.

The River Weaver is a haven for wildlife and we saw some ducks, a heron, two swans and some shags as we walked along the path. It was far too early in the year to see any of the rare plants which live near the salt mine in flower but we did see some teasels. A variety of teasel was used in textile manufacture, to raise the nap of woollen cloth ready for shearing. So we packed hundreds of years of history into an hour’s walk!

Images: Winsford Rock Salt Mine and teasels by the Weaver Parkway © Sue Wilkes

Cheshire salt workers and a special offer

The January issue of BBC Who Do You Think You Are? magazine includes my feature on finding out more about salt worker ancestors in Cheshire. The magazine also has a special reader offer for my latest book Tracing Your Canal Ancestors.


There’s more about the salt industry during the early nineteenth century in Regency Cheshire. The salt industry left an unhappy legacy of subsidence, particularly in the Northwich area. People, horses, salt works and houses were swallowed up by the ground when it suddenly collapsed underneath them.


Image: An interested crowd has gathered where this Northwich house has sunk from subsidence in 1892. Good Words, 1893.

Cheshire Salt Ancestors

A quick reminder that my latest feature for Discover My Past England this month is filled with tips on how to trace your ancestors if they worked in the Cheshire salt industry. You can also read the story of the industry during Georgian times in my book Regency Cheshire.

Image: Marston Salt Pit: The Shaft, Illustrated London News, 24 Aug 1850

Cheshire's Amazing History

It was a lovely afternoon today so we had a walk up to Eddisbury Iron Age hillfort, where there is an ongoing archaeological excavation as part of the Habitats and Hillforts Project. The archaeologists have done an incredible amount of work, and have uncovered what appears to be the entrance to the hill-fort; we were very surprised to see just how substantial the remains were.

Last night, we watched Secret Britain and I was very pleased to see Northwich and the Cheshire salt industry were featured. Matt Baker travelled on a canal boat along the Trent & Mersey canal past the old Lion Salt Works and had a ride through our local engineering wonder, the Anderton Boat Lift. The presenters also explored the beautiful wildlife and flora now thriving at Ashton's and Neumann's Flashes, the site of former salt mines which suffered catastrophic collapses in the 1870s and 1880s. Do try and catch the programme repeat or watch it on iPlayer if you can.

Photos: Eddisbury hill fort excavations: possible entrance, and section through rampart defences.  Anderton Boat Lift. © Sue Wilkes.

       

Happy New Year!

A belated Happy New Year to all my readers! It's bitterly cold and icy here in Cheshire this morning, and with reports that supplies of grit for our roads are running low, no doubt there will be great demand for Cheshire rock salt from the mines beneath our feet. Have a safe journey, everyone!

Salt and Sensibility

In Georgian and Victorian Cheshire, salt was one of the county’s most important exports. In the early 1790s, over 80 Mersey flats were kept busy transporting 58,000 tons of salt yearly to Liverpool. In fact Cheshire had more salt than it knew what to do with, and the manufacturers tried to strictly control output in order to keep prices up.
By 1850, 525,000 tons of white salt and 86,238 tons of rock salt were transported along the Weaver Navigation from the Cheshire salt towns.

Droitwich, home of John Corbett, the ‘Salt King,’ was another important salt producing area. When the Victorians began to take an interest in working conditions in salt works, they were horrified not only by the long working hours, but also because women regularly worked just wearing their petticoats because of the heat. When factory inspector Mr Fitton visited the Droitwich salt works in March 1873, he commented primly that this mode of working was : ‘is in every way bad for women, and it is especially injurious to nursing mothers and their infants, who are brought into the steaming sheds to be suckled.’

Conditions in the rock salt mines, however, were warm and dry. They were considered by contemporaries to be much better workplaces than coal mines.

You can find out more about the story of Cheshire salt and its workers in Regency Cheshire . My latest feature for Ancestors also has tips on researching your saltworker ancestors.

Image: The shaft; descent of the bucket in the Marston rock salt mine, Northwich. Illustrated London News, 28 August 1850. Author’s collection.

Cheshire in the news again!

Northwich’s historic Anderton Boat Lift was featured on BBC1’s Country Tracks yesterday (6 December) – presenter Ben Fogle enjoyed a boat trip through the lift. He also visited the Winsford Rock Salt Mine and witnessed the giant salt mining machine at work, and talked to the salt mine workers. Do catch the repeat or watch it on i-Player if you missed the programme.

The repeal of salt duties in 1825 boosted Winsford’s fortunes as a salt producer, and after 1840, the town began to overtake Northwich in terms of salt production. Another reason why Winsford grew at Northwich’s expense was the ever-growing problem with subsidence in the latter town. You can find out more about the story of Cheshire salt-making and the salt workers in Regency Cheshire.

Images: Anderton Boat Lift photo © Sue Wilkes.
Marston rock salt pit, engraving from Illustrated London News, 24 August 1850.

A peek into Cheshire's salty past

What a wet, miserable day it's been! The rotten weather doesn't seem to be holding back the Lion Salt Works restoration, though. You can watch a time-lapse video of the scaffolding being erected on Youtube.
In August 1850, a reporter for the Illustrated London News visited the Northwich rock salt mines and open pan salt works. The effects of unregulated brine pumping were only too apparent in the town: '‘Some of the houses leaned fearfully to one side, as if from the effect of an earthquake. There was a general air… as of drunkenness about the place.’ I'll be discussing what life was like for Cheshire salt workers, and discussing the cut-throat world of the salt industry, in Regency Cheshire.
Image: Open pan salt making, Illustrated London News, 24 August 1850.

Restoration begins

Work has begun at last on the restoration of the Lion Salt Works, Cheshire's last remaining open pan salt works. As the site and vegetation is being cleared, some intriguing finds have already been unearthed. It will be very interesting to see what discoveries are made as work progresses. You can follow the restoration at this new website. I'll be looking at the history of Cheshire salt and its workers, and the surprisingly cut-throat world of the salt industry, in Regency Cheshire

Image: Lion Salt Works, copyright Sue Wilkes.

Salt Sunday update

Sadly, the sun didn't shine for Salt Sunday. Instead, the Cheshire skies did their best to recreate Noah's Flood. The bad weather didn't deter the visitors, however, who showed true British spirit and turned out in spite of the deluge. If you didn't get a chance to go on the day, there's a video on YouTube of Salt Sunday where you can see salt making demos as well as the thanksgiving service.

Salt Sunday

Today is the first ever Salt Sunday at the The Lion Salt Works. There will be salt making demonstrations, and the visitor centre will have displays on Cheshire’s unique industrial past. Local artist Carolyn Shepherd, who specialises in industrial landscapes, will be at work. You can even create your very own artwork with salt; children can enjoy making salt dough crosses. At 4pm there will be a short thanksgiving service, led by the Bishop of Birkenhead, The Rt Revd Keith Sinclair. Let’s hope the sun shines!
Image: Salt Waggon at the Lion Saltworks © Sue Wilkes.

Cheshire Salt Newsflash!

Cheshire salt is needed to keep the country moving! This news video shows the huge stockpile of salt at Middlewich which is going to save Britain's roads from the Big Freeze.