Site Event/Activity record ECH6886 - Revealing Murgatroyd's Brine Pump: Final Report (Community Project to Restore and Interpret Brine Pump Site)

A final report, produced in 2020, summarises the results of a programme of conservation undertaken at Murgatroyd’s Brine Pump site (CHER 1083/3/4). This site represents the last remaining part of Murgatroyd’s Salt Works, developed between 1889 and 1977, to work a source of high quality brine. It was designated as a scheduled monument in 2001, reflecting its importance as an example of a hand dug shaft for wild brine extraction and the last remnant of not only open pan salt making in Middlewich, but also, one of the few remaining sites of Cheshire's salt industry. The pumps themselves are the only example of intact pumps over a hand-dug brine shaft remaining in Britain. The site is also of local significance, as the first discovery of rock salt in Middlewich in 1889; additionally, it tapped, for the first time, the brine stream that had been feeding the town for thousands of years. The community project was instigated as the site was classified as 'at risk' by Historic England. The project aims were to repair and preserve unique elements of national importance, including the nineteenth century gantry and shaft, and the early twentieth century pumps, using a team of professionals, retired engineers, and volunteers. Another objective was to turn the site into a sustainable education and visitor resource. The project has comprised different phases of work including historical research, updating the building survey undertaken as part of the Conservation Management Plan, production of an updated structural survey, also a topographical survey of the site prior to required groundwork stabilisation. In September 2015, emergency repair works were undertaken including making the building water-tight, removal of asbestos and temporary stabilisation of the gantry and shaft. A second phase of work included replacement of the lean-to, restoration of the two engines and creation of the interpretation and display areas. On completion of the work, the site will be removed from Historic England’s ‘Heritage at Risk’ Register. (1)