Hi
I'm wondering if anyone on the list can help me with a puzzle I've been
trying to sort for years.
Droitwich was well known for its brine industry, and there was a large salt
works at Stoke Works, between Droitwich and Bromsgrove. For many years, I've
hears rumours/local legend that there used to be a deep salt mine, and I've
been doing some research.
A F Nicklin wrote in 1970 on her book about Stoke Works, that there was no
written evidence to support this, but that her father and grandfather were
convinced that there was a mine in the first half of the nineteenth century.
Some of their peers had seen samples of rock salt that came from this mine.
Charles Hastings wrote:
"Dry rock-salt has been worked in only one situation in this county. It was
discovered by Messrs. Fardon and Gossage, at Stoke Prior, in the year 1828;
and the working of this has afforded an opportunity of our becoming better
acquainted with the salt formation.
Before entering into the particulars of this salt mine, I must state the
circumstances which led to the detection of the rock-salt at this spot. It
is not here, as at Droitwich, that the brine springs to the surface. There
is no salt at this place discoverable in the water of the ordinary wells, so
that no indication of the presence of salt arises from them; but when the
Worcester and Birmingham canal was cut, it evidently became a good
specula-tion to discover brine, so as to have a salt manufacture there."
He also adds:
" The veins of salt occurring in the beds Nos. 3 and 5, afford beautiful
specimens of this mineral, the very small quantity of marl contained, being
only sufficient to commu-nicate a slight tinge of red, which rather adds to
the beauty of their appearance. The proprietors of this rock-salt mine
con-tinued to excavate the solid mineral for a considerable period, and
then, endeavouring to copy the operations of nature, they introduced a
supply of fresh water, and converted their mine into an artificial brine
spring."
I've managed, with the help of A F Nicklins book, to tie down the site of
this deep mine to an area close to where the railway line passes over Shaw
Lane in Stoke Prior, but there are 2 possible sites some 50 yards apart,
both of which could be the site. There were reports that a bomb dropped into
old workings during WWII, but I've now reached an impasse. I've been to see
the supposed sites and photographed one of them. Does anyone on the list
have any further information on this please?
Many thanks
Kelvin Green
Stop the Trade in Online Prescription Pharmaceuticals now.
There is often little or no check on who buys them or why. Anyone with a
debit card, even children, can easily get hold of them. They can and DO
kill.
|