Northwich Floods

London Rd was closed in Northwich after the River Dane burst its banks yesterday, but has just reopened.  Unfortunately it sounds as if some properties may have been badly affected but so far as I know, thankfully no-one was injured. 

The town has suffered several floods during its history, as I discovered while researching Regency Cheshire. In July 1828, the River Weaver burst its banks, inundating shops in the lower part of Northwich and destroying salt merchant R.P. Hadfield’s warehouse. A house in Witton St fell down; many inhabitants who took refuge in the upper storeys of their homes were rescued by ladder from boats. No coach services could pass through the town.

Not just Northwich was affected; the flooding of the River Dane caused ‘tremendous devastation through the whole line of its course’; many small farmers were said to be ‘irretrievably ruined.’ (Chester Chronicle, 25 July 1828.)  Northwich also suffered devastating flooding within living memory in 1946.

The Trent & Mersey Canal was breached yesterday, too, near Dutton Locks - there's an amazing photo on the BBC website here.  We often enjoy walks along the canal between Acton Bridge and Dutton, but I guess it will take a while to clear up the mess.

Images:  Northwich floods, 1872. There were similar scenes in the floods of 1798, 1799, and 1828. Daily Graphic.

Steam tug Kerne near Acton Bridge.

Dutton Locks before the flooding. Both photos © Sue Wilkes.

                                                      

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