Understanding the Lion Salt Works
A Conservation Plan has been developed by the Trust with a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The lead architects were from Donald Insall Associates, Chester and survey information was provided by a laser scan survey produced by APR Services, grant aided by English Heritage. The whole package of information was completed through a grant from the Northwest Development Agency.
The plan allows us to understand the site and address its special significance by adopting policies to address the threats and challenges of repairing the site for re-use and to manage its long-term maintenance.
The Conservation Plan is a working document, which will be continually up-dated and used. The Trust can use the plan as a tool to continually understand; What is the Lion Salt Works; Why it should be saved; How restoration can be undertaken; How it will be managed and Who will benefit from the success of the project.
A summary of the Conservation Plan is being produced which will include map sequences and photographs of the buildings and objects retained on the site. This will be published as a Research Report and will include the gazateers on a CD-ROM.
The Lion Salt Works at Marston in mid-Cheshire is a rare, perhaps unique, survival of a traditional inland salt works which once produced this essential commodity. The standing buildings and structures on the site illustrate the whole process of salt production and date from the late 19th and 20th centuries, however, many of the buildings and structures are now in a very poor state of repair. Limited emergency structural repairs have been carried out in recent years but decline still continues. In the late 19th century Cheshire provided 86% of the nation’s salt – the Lion Salt Works is the only tangible surviving structure of this important industry.
A map sequence has been produced showing the development of the site and two gazetteers have been developed in order that the significance of the site could be explored. The first gazetteer relates to the buildings, the second to the artefacts contained within the buildings.
The Significance of Lion Salt Works
Countless historic buildings and sites have been demolished and cleared because they were considered obsolete, only to be mourned when their importance was later recognised. Defining the significance of a site enables us to avoid such mistakes.
The decline of open pan salt making occurred within living memory, as increasing fuel costs led to it being superseded by cheaper salt produced through vacuum evaporation. Yet, salt making is fundamental to life. It was possibly one of man’s first industrial processes, fundamental for food preservation, a raw material for chemical products and as cargo to colonial countries (in particular part of the slave/cotton/sugar triangle) was an element in securing Great Britain’s influence throughout the world.
As the last surviving salt works in the UK making block salt and white salt crystals by evaporating brine in open pans, a process little changed from pre-Christian times the Lion Salt Works must be appreciated as being of the very greatest significance.
National Significance
This part of Cheshire produced the vast majority of the country’s salt in the 19th century and laid the foundations for the area’s thriving chemical industry.
The Marston Conservation Area was created around the Lion Salt Works in 1980 and revised in 2004. The buildings were Listed Grade II in 1986 as buildings of special architectural or historic interest. Several of the buildings represent rare, in some cases possibly unique, survivals of their type in the country. In 2000 the site was upgraded to become a Scheduled Monument, placing it among the top 6% of protected sites in the country.
The Human Dimension
The site embodies the working lives of several generations, the last of which is still within living memory. It is closely linked to many generations of a single family, providing an insight into Victorian family and business life and illustrates the craft tradition of salt making which spans two millennia.
The Thompson family is one of the oldest salt making families in Cheshire. The family had other businesses; brick making, boat building, rock salt mining, and coal mining. They are associated with the emergence of the Salt Union in 1888, the passing of the Brine Compensation Act (1891) and the development of modern Solution Mining techniques.
There were also scores of men and women who worked in the salt works who are scarcely known, but they can be pictured working in the hot and humid conditions of evaporating pan houses and drying stores, loading barges and transporting salt by narrow boat, barge, rail and lorry.
Architecture and Archaeology
The buildings represent the specific industrial traditional of salt making and illustrate the evolution of the site from the 19th to the 20th century. Their contents cannot be separated, the two elements – buildings and contents - are structurally and functionally linked, both being constantly rebuilt within their working lives. In addition to the standing structures, the site and its surroundings contain a wealth of archaeological evidence for the evolution of the industry. The fact that the site continued to be developed and remained in use into the late 20th century is a curious anomaly.
These are not monuments to their builders or owners and were not built to last, merely keep out the weather from a product, which would dissolve in the rain. Their design can be traced from medieval salt houses and has changed little in design or function. The site stirs our senses and imagination. The silhouette of the buildings is now an alien shape compared to modern warehouse buildings and industrial complexes. The construction materials are also now unfamiliar to 21st century eyes and will become even more unusual as modern life changes at an even greater pace.
Equipment, such as boilers, horizontal steam engines, cutting machines, salt van, salt pans blacksmith tools, weighing and grinding machines, office equipment and furniture are still on the site. This adds value to the interpretation and understanding of how the site operated and was managed.
The many activities needed to make white salt, dry it, sort it, pack it and transport it have left tangible remains on the site. These numerous buildings and structures form a single great machine. In order to understand the process all the parts of that machine must remain. As Lion Salt Works is the last surviving example of such a works, it is our only chance to interpret the process in a real site.
Landscape and Memory
The Lion Salt Works is an integral part of the industrial landscape of canals, earthworks, flashes and other subsidence features, housing and factories in Vale Royal. The site enables a full understanding of the process of salt manufacture and presents a real opportunity as an educational resource.
The environment around the works is being conserved and restored to recreational use. Ashton’s and Neumann’s Flash is now part of Northwich Community Woodlands and former salt making sites around the Anderton Boat lift have been opened to form Anderton Nature Park.
All the salt warehouses have now been lost, leaving Lion Salt Works as the only real life experience of the former salt industry.
Vulnerability
The site has survived decades of decline and redundancy, yet is threatened in many ways.
The spacious, open plan interiors are now very different from the spaces when they were working. Then, they were, dark, hot and humid, filled steam as the huge tonnages of salt were moved from the salt pans through the drying stores to the warehouses and packaging areas.
The site is vulnerable to decay and vandalism unless the funding can be put in place to begin restoration and conservation work.
Redundancy and Context
Since the buildings are unused their maintenance has
been poor, vandalism has occurred, features are being lost and repair costs are escalating. A significant investment, financial and human, is needed to secure the future of the site. New uses for the site are limited by the nature of the buildings and their contents.
The Site Itself
Many of the buildings were designed to be constantly rebuilt and adapted to accommodate the nature of the industry they housed. This contributes to their very poor condition. The corrosive effects of salt making and subsidence also add to the poor condition of the buildings and subsidence is still active on the site.
Future Change
The demolition of buildings could undermine the sense of continuous evolution on the site and alter its appearance as a whole complex. Any new building would also alter the appearance of the site and the poor condition and extensive use of asbestos cladding on the site pose health and safety issues during building works. For further information visit our Vision for the Future.
Principles and Policies
The site must continue to tell the full story of the salt making process and public access is important. Detailed recording of all the buildings should be undertaken to ensure preservation by record and its significance is protected and revealed for the future.
Repair and Re-use
The most historically significant buildings require urgent repair to halt their decline. A repair strategy for different types of building and structure on the site should be established, taking into account the functional performance intended by the original builders.
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The limited scope for alternative uses may suggest that preservation as a monument is appropriate for many parts of the site.
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The use of existing buildings to produce salt would require very extensive reconstruction. A balance must be struck between the conflicting demands of: conserving rare and historic structures; demonstrating the process for public benefit and enjoyment; and modern standards of hygiene, health and safety and efficiency.
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New uses for the readily adaptable buildings must support the conservation of the site as a whole.
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Any new buildings must support the conservation of the site as a whole and enhance the site’s character and significance.
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The existence of other industrial sites and attractions should be seen as the foundation for beneficial collaboration and as the basis for attracting a wider public.
Managing Change
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The industrial character and functional layout of the site must not be undermined.
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Any demolition or irreversible alteration must be shown to have real benefits to their wider conservation of the site that outweigh the loss.
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Missing or badly damaged components within the process may be restored, if sufficient evidence is available and such work would support the conservation and understanding of the site.
