Lion Salt Works History & Heritage

How is salt formed?

Rock salt was laid down about 250 million years ago when Britain was a shallow inland sea, surrounded by desert, close to the equator. Through continental drift the land gradually migrated northwards. Some salt beds were buried, others exposed and dissolved away.

In the UK there are very few places where rock salt is capable of being extracted.

The Cheshire salt beds are only 150 feet below the surface and provide a barrier to the ground water, which is dissolved as the water runs over it to form brine. These brine springs were exploited as a natural resource by local people 2,000 years ago.

Brine springs were enlarged to form wells 50 feet deep to allow easier access to the brine.

The rock salt strata itself was only discovered in 1670 whilst prospecting for coal on the Marbury Estate, two miles from where the Lion Salt Works was constructed, and geologists and salt proprietors alike extolled the unique geology of the Marston area.

Early Salt Making

Roman and medieval lead salt pans have been found in Cheshire, these were 3ft square, and where used in units of three. Three lead pans found at Bostock, Cheshire, 6 miles from the Lion Salt Works, are on display at the Lion Salt Works.

Lead salt pans appear to have been used until the end of the medieval period when iron pans were introduced. Georgius Agricola’s De Re Metalica is the most frequently reproduced historical source. Pans are described as being 7ft wide by 8ft long. There are no excavated pans of this type in England but the layout of the pan houses are similar those excavated at Nantwich, Cheshire and Droitwich in Worcestershire.

The adoption of iron salt pans coincided with a change from wood to coal as fuel, and allowed pans to increase in size as production increased. Changes in Northwich were slow as the system of salt making was strictly controlled. Common pans eventually grew to become 20ft wide and over 30ft long.

Initially the exploitation of inland brine was only regionally important. Pack horse trails radiated from the salt towns until cheap coal and river transportation (later canals and railways) gave Cheshire an advantage over the sea-salt centres scattered around the coast.

17th to 19th Century and the Lion Salt Works

In 1670 the rock salt strata itself was discovered on the Marbury Estate, which was only 2 miles from where the Lion Salt Works was eventually constructed. Much of the mined rock salt was used to strengthen weak brine and refinery processes were developed around the coast. The wide spread salt works could not produce salt as cheaply as Cheshire and Cheshire rock salt and white salt became the centre for salt production in the UK.

Salt production expanded alongside the developments in transport through the creation of the Weaver Navigation, 1710, and the Trent and Mersey Canal, completed 1777.

In 1781 the Bottom Bed of rock salt was discovered. The first deep mine was developed at Marston Mine by John Gilbert, land agent to the Duke of Bridgewater, and the first Boulton and Watt steam engine was introduced to pump brine and raise rock salt.

The Thompson family are said to have been involved in the salt industry from the eighteenth century. They created an integrated family business mining rock salt, evaporating brine, operated a brick works, a boat yard, imported timber and were co-owners of a colliery. They operated works at Pennys Lane Mine and Witton Hall Mine at Northwich, Pool Mine and the Alliance Works, Marston and a shaft at Winsford.

In 1888 the Thompson family salt businesses were absorbed into the Salt Union, a process organised by Thomas Ward, son-in-law to John Thompson. Following disagreements with the Salt Union, John Thompson jnr. re-established himself as an independent producer in 1894 erecting a salt pan in the coal yard of the Red Lion Hotel, Marston. The knowledge, experience and archives of  John Thompson and Thomas Ward was used by Calvert in the definitive work Salt in Cheshire published in 1915.

The Lion Salt Works at Marston became associated with Henry Ingram Thompson and continued to expand and adapt to changes in the salt markets. But, by 1900 vacuum evaporation was being introduced in the salt industry, cutting fuel and labour costs. Initially the process was unable to make the grades of salt possible by the open pan process. Eventually customers adapted their processes to use the cheaper vacuum salt crystals. There were also growing concerns about the poor air quality around open pan salt works and subsidence from wild brine pumping led to the closure of most works.

By 1960 Thompson’s Red Lion Works was the last operational open pan salt works but it was forced to close in 1986, with the unfortunate loss of West African markets during the civil war in Nigeria, which was a major purchaser of natural salt.

Towards an understanding of open pan salt making

Brine is stored in a reservoir or tank and fed into the pans to keep a constant depth in the pan, keeping pace with the evaporation so that the pans were never over or under filled.

The ancient industrial process and esoteric craft skill of salt manufacture, is dependent on saturated brine, a controlled fire and experience, to heat the brine to the correct temperature to produce fine, medium and coarse crystals.

‘Lumpmen’ at the Lion Salt Works stood on ‘the hurdles’, a term derived from woven hurdles which acted as walkways beside the pans in medieval salt pans.

Up to the 1890s ‘peg top tubs’ were made by coopers and were cone shaped, making salt lumps the same shape as baskets depicted in Georgius Agricola’s De Re Metallica published in 1565. Excavated examples from Anglo-Saxon levels at Droitwich were made from hazel.

‘Wallers’ raked common salt at the Lion Salt Works just as described in sixteenth century Northwich and Nantwich.

Site Development Key dates.

Different Grades of Salt

The term ‘common salt’ is a technical term denoting a grade which was not ‘fine’ or ‘coarse’. Henry Lloyd Thompson rubs salt between his fingers, feeling the texture of the crystals and squeezes handfuls together to judge the moisture content. Simply by holding the salt he can judge the volume and weight, important factors in determining the grade of salt produced. The colour of the crystals is also important, as there are many shades of white and prices would be affected if certain grades contained pan scale.Dirty salt was sold to potteries for salt glazing or to farmers as Agricultural Salt.Bulk consignments might be used for softening hides in the tanning industry.

Coarse or Fishery Salt - Coarse salt was produced by slowly simmering brine over a cool fire. Fishery pans were usually set up in the open with no protecting roof. Fishery salt was often called 14 day salt as it took two weeks to evaporate the brine.

Common Salt - Common salt was a medium sized crystal usually made in a fine pan. The crystals were drawn from the pan and placed loose on the hurdles, in a ‘wall’ of salt. Common salt could be drawn by medium skilled workers called 'wallers'. This type of salt may not have been dried in a Stove House and may have a higher moisture content than fine salt.

Fine Salt and Lump Salt - Fine salt was produced at the higher temperatures sometimes at boiling point. The crystals are smaller than common or coarse salt. Fine salt was used for making block salt by placing the crystals in a mould. Moulded salt was baked over flues in a Hot House and then lofted to a warehouse above. Blocks were divided between hand-it lumps and ‘seggars’. Hand-it lumps were carefully made to be sold in block form. ‘Seggars’ were more roughly handled as they were crushed and then transported as 'factory filled salt' in sacks.

Continuation of a Traditional Process

Henry Lloyd Thompson, the last owner, is quietly proud of being able to operate the works as his great-great-grandfather had done and is still disappointed that eventually he had to use fuel oil rather than coal. However, he did persevere against all the odds to continue to produce open pan salt and modernised, to some degree, by adopting stainless steel tools, glass fibre moulds and developing a mechanically raked pan.

In understanding the driving force of Henry Lloyd Thompson one can begin to appreciate the highly conservative nature of the salt industry over the last two thousand years. He took pride in the family name and the craft nature of producing salt crystals from brine. His cousin Jonathan Thompson boasted of making 'a traditional product in a traditional way'.

Salt made at this works was more than just plain salt and the specialist customers would have continued to buy if the Nigerian economy had not collapsed as a result of civil war.