Monument record 1696/3 - Lower Dirtwich Saltworks: Field Pit

<1> Various, Various, Oral communication to the HER, Turner RC, 29/05/1987 (Oral Communication). SCH2330.

Lower Dirtwich Saltworks: brine pit c.200m to the south-east of the other pit (CHER 1696/2). It is c.7m diameter and is surrounded by a clay bank in which two large stones survive. The water is blue-grey in colour and is very salty to the taste. It overflows into the Wych brook whose level is several feet below.

<2> Twigg G, 2007, Saltmaking at Higher and Lower Dirtwich, p.21-2 (Article in Journal). SCH9219.

Possible evidence for a second Lower Dirtwich saltworks. In April 1984 the pit was a dish shaped pond about 15ft to 20ft in diameter. In the centre, through the clear brine, was a hole about four to six feet in diameter or maybe square. This was dipped and found to be about eighty feet deep. There was no evidence of a well lining. A photograph c.1940 shows what appears to be a ring of brickwork around the perimeter of the pond and is referred to as such in the note. Except for a stone block there was no evidence of brickwork in 1984. Since the brine pit itself is a shaft about six feet across the brickwork could have been the footings of a brick pumphouse. According to the note this brine pit stopped working in 1856 but this seems unlikely there being no evidence of buildings on this site in the Tithe Apportionment.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 1896-1898, Ordnance Survey First Revision County Series (Epoch 2) 25 inch to 1 mile - Cheshire, SJ4844, 1898 (Maps and Plans). SCH3848.

This map depicts a circular feature at this location c.9m in diameter. There is a benchmark on the northern side. This feature is labelled Salt Spring.

<4> See map for surveyor, c.1838-50, Flintshire and Denbighshire Tithe Maps and Awards, EDT 219/2, c.1840 (Maps and Plans). SCH9220.

This plot is called Brine Pit Meadow.

<5> Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust, 2012, Medieval and Early Post-Medieval Industry in East and North-East Wales: The Scheduling Enhancement Programme, p.60-1 (Report). SCH9221.

Higher up the Wych Brook, there is another brine pit which Twigg (see 6) considers to be no later than the end of the eighteenth century in date owing to the lack of both visible structural remains and archive information.

<6> Twigg G, Undated, Salt Making Sites in Cheshire (Web Site). SCH9222.

<7> Environment Agency, 2003-2020, Environment Agency LiDAR Surveys, Composite 1m DSM (Digital Archive). SCH7819.

The pit is clearly visible as a subcircular negative earthwork.

<8> Clwyd Powys Archaeological Trust, 2012, Medieval and Early Post-Medieval Industry in East and North-East Wales: The Scheduling Enhancement Programme, p.60-2 (Report). SCH9221.

Higher up the Wych Brook, there is another brine pit (CPAT 101916) at SJ 4885 4416, which Twigg (see 2) considers to be no later than the end of the eighteenth century in date owing to the lack of both visible structural remains and archive information.