Site Event/Activity record ECH5832 - Archaeological Evaluation of Lion Salt Works, 2011

In October 2011, OAN carried out an archaeological evaluation at the Lion Salt Works. The Works continued in use for the commercial production of salt until 1986, when closure was necessitated largely as a result of the loss of its main markets in West Africa during the civil war in Nigeria. The immense archaeological and historical significance of the site as the last surviving inland open-pan salt works in England is reflected in its designation as a scheduled monument. The component structures, including the pan houses, a salt store, brine tank, bore holes, pump house, boiler house, managers office and a smithy, have further statutory designation as Grade II listed buildings and also are within a Conservation Area. In addition, the site contains the well-preserved buried remains of the nineteenth century Alliance Salt Works, which occupied the area prior to the construction of the Lion Salt Works in 1894. The archaeological evaluation was comprised of ten targeted trenches, and seven test pits to facilitate a proposed programme of geo-technical investigation. The trenches were intended to establish the presence, depth, date and significance of any surviving archaeological deposits across the monument, and assess the impact of the proposed schemes of redevelopment and enhancement of the site. The majority of the trenches were targeted on the footprint of the former Alliance Salt Works, and confirmed that buried remains of archaeological significance survive in situ across the eastern half of the site. The structural remains of the Stove House and Warehouse, the Pan and Stove House, and the open salt pans were all exposed at depths ranging between 0.05m - 0.4m below ground surface. These remains were comprised of brick-built walls and surfaces, seemingly represented more than a single phase of development of the Alliance Salt Works, although detailed manual cleaning and excavation in parts of the trenches was precluded by the discovery of asbestos. The survival of buried remains of archaeological significance in the western half of the site, which had formed part of the Lion Salt Works, was also confirmed during the evaluation. Well-preserved remains of brick-built walls that almost certainly represented elements of the Fishery Salt Pans were exposed, together with structural remains of Stove House 5. The foundations of the rear wall of the Red Lion Hotel were also revealed. The evaluation has demonstrated that well-preserved buried remains of archaeological significance survive at shallow depths across the site. A strategy to mitigate any damage to these remains as part of the repair and development works will be required. Further work and an addendum to the evaluation report produced by OAN in 2011 (SCH5832) was produced later. Due to problems relating to the location of five test pits, these were not completed during the original work, and this report describes five further test pits excavated between 5 - 9 March 2012. The test pits were required in advance of geotechnical boreholes to tube excavated throughout the site of the scheduled monument. Test pits TP7 and TP8 replaced two test pits (TP6 and BH5) that were not fully excavated due to shallow archaeological remains and an electricity cable. TP9 replaced TP3, which was not excavated due to the proximity of a scaffold around Stove House 5. Test pits TP10 and 11 replaced a test pit and borehole location that could not be excavated due to the proximity of the uncapped brine shaft adjacent to the brine tank. The work broadly adheres to the specification set out in the project design by Matrix Archaeology (2011a).