Salt Sunday 2010 Visit to British Salt

Members of the Salt of the Earth Network were priviledged to be given a conducted tour of the  British Salt vacuum evaporation works at Middlewich. Thanks are due to Ron Barber (blue overalls standing next to Bishop of Birkenhead).

Display boards and objects showing the salt heritage of Middlewich were provided in St Michael and All Angles church by Kerry Fletcher, Middlewich Town Council heritage Officer, and from Ineos Enterprise, Solvay and British salt. This was as part of St Michaels Harvest Festival, with a salty flavour, and was followed in the afternoon by a service of celebration of salt led by the Bishop of Birkenhead . Link to Youtube video to follow here.

2nd Salt Sunday

The second Salt Sunday, part of the Salt of the Earth Initiative inspired by the Bishop of Birkenhead, will be held on Sunday 10 October, 2010 at St Michael and All Angels Church, Middlewich, Cheshire. Salt will be the main theme of their Harvest Festival being held at 10am and the Bishop will lead a Service of Celebration of salt at 3pm. http://www.middlewichparishchurch.org.uk/ http://www.saltoftheearth.btik.com/

NW Industrial Archaeology Conference 2010

Saturday 25th September I will be participating in the CBA NW Region Industrial Archaeology & History Conference being hosted by the Merseyside Industrial Archaeology Society at the National Waterways Museum, Ellesmere. http://www.mihs.org.uk/CBA.pdf
My talk includes sites that should be included in a new Salt Trail being researched as part of a European funded collaboration called Ecosal-atlantis . After the talk I said  would post a Google map that will include the salt making sites and links I discussed during the talk. This is now included below.

The main objective of the ECOSAL ATLANTIS  project, “Ecotourism in saltworks of the Atlantic: a strategy for integral and sustainable development” is the development of joint, integral and sustainable tourism based on the cultural and natural heritage of traditional Atlantic saltworking sites.
Links between salt making sites have been created in other areas. The ALAS project was established to preserve traditions of salt making in salinas. Work in Portugal and Spain was reported in the conference I organised at Lion Salt Works in 2003 and published in the Lion Salt Works Research Report 'Salt Works and Salinas' in 2005, principally work at Figuera da Foz, Salinas d'Annana and Friends of Inland Salinas.
The Trail may have links to sites featured in the European Route of Industrial Heritage  - ERIH  of which Lion Salt Works was a founder anchor point in the NW of England.
Annelise and I included a gazetteer of the main UK sites in our book 'The Salt Industry' published by Shire Books in 2005.  I have also posted videos of historic salt making experiments on youtube such as a demonstration on Wrangle Marsh, Lincolnshire with Tom Lane and the Heritage Trust for Lincolnshire. Other videos are included under the Saltteller and Saltfriend Channel names.

Revisit for text and google map links. These will be updated over coming days. The map will be enlarged to include all sites with a salt connection.
Click for the Salt Trail Map Link

The standard summary of salt making in Cheshire, written by Calvert and published in 1915 is now available as a download at http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030692697

Links used in the talk (more to follow)
Cumbria web links
http://www.cumbria-industries.org.uk/salt.htm
http://www.walney-island.com/salt_works_01.htm
http://www.visitcumbria.com/wc/crosscanonby-st-john-the-evangelists-church.htm
http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?id=411241

Wirral Links
http://www.btinternet.com/~m.royden/mrlhp/local/salt/dungeon.htm
http://www.ecosert.org.uk/leaflets/Hilbre.pdf
http://www.deeestuary.co.uk/hilbre/

Cheshire Links
http://www.middlewich-heritage.org.uk/salt-and-canal.html

Salt of the Earth
http://www.saltoftheearth.btik.com/
http://www.flickr.com/groups/saltoftheearth/

Video of Laserscanning - George St Chapel, Oldham

In June I set up a recording programme for Age Concern Oldham. ACO are seeking to restore the former Independent Methodist Chapel at George Street, Oldham for repair and adaptation as a heritage centre and function / events space.
A measured set of drawings was required for use by the architects and as a historic record of the building. APR Services Ltd were commissioned to laser scan the chapel and produce cad drawings.
The process was recorded by video and is now posted on Youtube. The fly-around and fly-though section at the end was produced by APR Services Ltd.
ACO are submitting a bid at the end of August to the HLF for a restoration grant. For more information go to http://www.oldham-ageconcern.co.uk/

Video link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1gul-524gY

Scanner in position below the gallery at the back of the chapel.

Butterfly Garden at the Lion Salt Works

On Sunday 25 July Cheshire and Peak Butterfly hold an opening of their buddlia collection created at the Lion Salt Works, Marston, Northwich, Cheshire.

http://www.cheshire-butterflies.co.uk/
http://www.bigbutterflycount.org/

Pictures and more information after the event.

Salt Making at Reaseheath College

It was a pleasure to be able to demonstrate open pan, brine evaporation at Reaseheath College on the 14 July. The occasion was for the turf cutting to initiate a new Food Hall at the college by the Duke of Westminster. My demonstration was one of four products being promoted under the 'Made in Cheshire' brand co-ordinated by Jane Casson of which the Duke of Westminster is patron.


The Duke had not seen this type of salt making before.
Also present was Jimmy Doherty, from 'Jimmy's Farm'. Introductions and a description about the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead were described by the Principal of the College, Meredydd David OBE.

Andrew describing the process of evaporating brine to make salt crystals top the Duke of Westminster. (Photo curtesy of Reaseheath College)

ITV Countrywise

Suddenly out of nowhere a piece filmed at Lion Salt Works a couple of years ago was broadcast on ITV in a programme called Countrywise, on Monday 5th July. There is a link to the ITV iplayer where the programme will be viewable for a while.

http://www.itv.com/itvplayer/video/?Filter=155386


It shows Andrew making salt in a ceramic salt pan over a peat fire (also used by the BBC in an early BBC2 programme 'Coast') and two replica Roman salt pans over a wood fire.