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Published: July 16th 2013
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A different sort of day today as I bussed into Northwich town centre to visit a museum and John opted for a large local park and a pub lunch. Hattie was so hot after visiting the park that she went straight into the canal to cool off – most unlike her but she was obviously in need. We hope it wasn't too unclean.
Northwich is another salt town – anything ending in 'wich' is. The canal runs through Broken Cross, on the far eastern outskirts of Northwich, and the rivers Weaver and Dane go through the centre of Northwich, about 3 miles westwards. The Weaver museum and Workhouse was fascinating. The building was originally part of a Victorian workhouse so there were displays about that, life below stairs and, most interesting of all, the salt industry from Roman times and how it has affected the area. In a nutshell:
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Romans used clay-fired pans and brine from the brine springs.
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Medieval times – lead pans and the brine springs.
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19
thcentury – riveted iron pan.
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Late
17
thcentury rock salt was discovered when they excavated for coal.
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Rock salt was hewn by hand, initially at about 50', then 100' and then about 250'. The quality improved with the depth. Rock pillars were left to hold up the tunnels.
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Whenever there was flooding, either the Weaver of run-off from the Pennines, this brine would be pumped out but not quickly enough to prevent damage to the salt pillars.
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Subsidence on a massive scale.
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In 2005 a grout of pulverised fuel ash, concrete, salt and brine was pumped into the old salt workings around Northwich, which seems to have stabilised the ground.
After a massive flood in about 1919 it was decided to jack up all timber-framed shops. The brick shops were left to sink or demolished if the lean became too pronounced. So Northwich doesn't have many really old buildings. I mentioned the flashes yesterday – they are now things of beauty after all these years but I doubt the landowners felt that way at the time. The canal has been rerouted over a ½ mile stretch to avoid a collapse and breach. We're moored by the Lion Salt Works,
an industry museum that I'd wanted to visit, but they're 'upgrading' it and it's closed until next year. The buildings have sunk so much that the door lintels are now at towpath level apparently. There was a salt mine just 25 yards from the canal in 1833 – the mine closed down in 1898 after the mineshaft, chimney and engine house subsided into it.
Until fairly recently the River Weaver was used by small sea-going vessels and provided a good trade route to Liverpool. It needed constant dredging as the smaller R. Dane carries a lot of sand to the confluence. All the large boatyards are closed now and many of the swing bridges do not have to be swung for narrowboats, which pleases all the road users who'd be held up each time. I had expected riverside walks in Northwich but there was no path as I headed south from the Town Bridge towards the museum. The river is pretty and the flow was minimal today after the lack of rain.
We then set off for Marston, ready (we hope) to slip into moorings at
Anderton and spend some time at this masterpiece – more tomorrow. As we left Rudheath and Northwich the gentle countryside of the Dane valley gave way to the harsh reality of industrial Northwich – ICI may have gone (leaving vast empty buildings behind them) but the Tata Steelworks still remain and over a 2 mile trip we saw more pipe bridge across the canal than during the whole of the trip so far.
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