A Festive Ship

Recently, I was lucky enough to be present when the Lion Saltworks acquired a ‘salt ship’ for their collection. These are quite rare objects. At Christmas time and other festive occasions, the saltworkers would make wooden objects like ships, dip them in the concentrated brine in the saltworks, and put them to dry in the warm stove rooms (where lump salt was dried out.) As the brine evaporated out, a beautiful coating of salt crystals appeared, as on the ship (see image, left.) Sometimes the workers would dip tree boughs in the brine and dry them out to make Christmas decorations for their houses. A pretty effect, isn't it?
Image © Sue Wilkes.

Cheshire Salt II

My lump salt has been drying out for a couple of weeks now, so I decided to try and decant it. As you can see, as the wet salt evaporated, it left a crust of salt all over the pot. Sadly, despite bashing my pot heroically with a wooden spoon, I couldn't get the 'lump' to come out all in one piece, so I've got a mound rather than a lump of Cheshire salt. It's possible I didn't compact it in firmly enough when I filled the pot, or perhaps it hasn't had long enough to dry out.
When the Lion Salt Works was in operation, Nigeria was one of the firm's prime markets. One particular grade of salt was exported there in such large quantities, it was known as 'Lagos Salt.'
The Lion Salt Works is hoping to begin restoration work on site later this year, so keep an eye on their website for news updates.
Images © Sue Wilkes.

Cheshire Salt I

The fortunes of Cheshire’s ‘wich’ towns were of course, built on salt. A couple of weekends ago, I went to a salt-making demonstration at the Lion Saltworks Trust, and it was very interesting indeed to watch the process in action. The basic technique of ‘walling’ - obtaining salt by boiling large, open pans of brine - changed very little over the centuries, from the Roman occupation right through to comparatively recent times.

I had a go at raking the salt to the sides of the pan on a replica Roman hearth. It’s surprisingly difficult just to move quite a smallish amount around the pan, so it must’ve been very hard work for the lumpmen raking the salt in the large-sized industrial pans.
The Romans used lead pans, and apparently it isn’t recommended nowadays to use salt made in this way, even though the amount of lead contamination would be incredibly tiny. There was also a stainless steel pan of Cheshire brine on the go, and I took a turn at scooping out the salt into a pot.
My pot of Cheshire salt has been drying out for a while now, and hopefully all will be revealed soon.

Images © Sue and Nigel Wilkes