Monument record 180/2 - Two 12th Century Salt Houses, Wood Street Car Park Site

<1> McNeil R, 1983, Two 12th-Century Wich Houses in Nantwich, Cheshire, Medieval Archaeology, Vol 27, 1983, p.40-88 (Article in Journal). SCH7354.

Excavations were undertaken in 1979-80 in advance of sewerage works in a car park between First Wood St and the River Weaver. They revealed well preserved remains of two salt or wich houses dating to the twelfth century. Both were of a similar plan and probably belonged to a regularly planned industrial suburb. They were of different construction; No.1 (the southern-most house) was a wattle building with an entrance to the street and an open end to the river. Within the house there were two storage tanks and two boiling areas. The No.2 wich house was supported by posts along its side walls. One of the storage tanks or 'ships' (hollowed out tree trunk) survived intact. Also found were other items of wooden equipment, including nine salt rakes and a wicker barrow. Dating by dendrochronology shows construction was in late C12. Wich house 1 was only short-lived, but No.2 survived for at least 300 years until the sixteenth century. A large group of medieval pottery was recovered along with well preserved leather and wooden items. These structures are so far unique in Western Europe.

<2> McNeil R (ed), Feb 1980, Wood Street, Nantwich Excavations - Interim Report (Unpublished Report). SCH7369.

Initial report produced for the excavations at Wood Street.

<3> McNeil R (ed), 1980, Wood Street Salt Works, Nantwich (Monograph). SCH3717.

Account of the excavations at Wood Street, including reports on the finds (animal bone - medieval layers, leather, wooden artefacts including the significant collection of nine salt rake heads, also the remains of the two 'ships', medieval pottery, clay pipes and post medieval pottery). 3700 sherds of pottery dating from the 13th-15th centuries were recovered from the excavations from well stratified medieval deposits. The scatter of pottery reflects the interiors of the two wich houses. Surrounding the houses was an accumulation of woody, charcoal and burnt deposits probably associated with the salt-making process; the woody layers were associated with house 1, potentially representing a yard area, while the charcoal/burnt area were residue from house 2. In the later period, a general scatter of pottery over the southern part of the site illustrates the decline of house 1 with its area being re-used as a yard area for house 2. Culturally the pottery will provide information as to the type of assemblage associated with low-status occupation. In terms of dating, the pottery has shown the rise of Wood Street as a salt producing area in the 13th century and its decline by the end of the 15th/beginning of the 16th centuries. The continuous occupation of what is a relatively small area of land in Wood Street and the palimsest of archaeological features indicates that such land was at a premium and once an area of land was recognised as 'walling land' (an area where boiling occurred) there was little room for expansion and a picture emerges of one salt house plot having a long ancestry. Even the 18th century activity respects these boundaries.

<4> McNeil R, 1980, Two medieval salt houses excavated in Wood Street, Nantwich 1980. (Booklet-Leaflet). SCH7375.

Nantwich, Middlewich and Northwich were the three ancient salt towns of Cheshire. They are positioned where the brine rises to the surface as springs or where it can be easily extracted. The earliest mention of salt working in Nantwich is found in the Domesday Survey of 1089, where eight salt or 'wich' houses, plus a further unspecified number, are mentioned bounded on one side by the River Weaver and ono the other by a ditch or moat. The brine spring came to the surface on Snow Hill, on the east bank of the river. Finds of briquetage and lead pans show that the Romans were making salt. By the thirteenth century documents show that the salt industry had expanded into Great and Little Wood Streets (now Wood St) and there are later references to salt houses in Waterlode and Wyche House Bank. There is good written evidence of the industry from the sixteenth century onwards. Of particular interest are two documents (1675, Thomas Brancker and 1669, Dr.Jackson) which describe the method of producing salt in detail.

<5> Ordnance Survey, 1870-1982, Ordnance Survey Archaeological Record Card, 1981, SJ65SW27 (Index). SCH2487.

<6> Nantwich Museum, 1980, Salt making in Nantwich (Booklet-Leaflet). SCH9648.

The brine spring near the R.Weaver in Nantwich was known as 'Old Biot'. The brine was channelled to the salt houses where it was stored in barrels sunk into the ground or in a hollowed-out tree trunk, known as a 'ship'. The brine was then heated in large lead pans, the process known as 'walling'; when lukewarn, a mixture of ale, bullocks' blood and egg white was added to bring impurities to the surface as scum. When enough water had evaporated, the wet salt was placed in conical baskets or 'barrows' for draining. Finally the salt was dried in the hot part of the salt house behind the furnace. For many years the salt trade was strictly controlled by the 'Rulers of Walling' who regulated the supply of salt produced. The salt industry in Nantwich declined in the 18th century as rock salt deposits in Northwich and Winsford were exploited; the last salt works closed in 1856. However, in 1882 the old brine pit was cleaned out to supply newly built medicinal baths on Snow Hill.

<7> County Historic Environment Record, 1973-1985, Cheshire Archaeological Bulletin, Issue 7, 1980, p.30-33, 'Nantwich, Three Years of Excavations and Observations', R.McNeil-Sale (Journal/Periodical). SCH565.

<8> Various, Current Archaeology, Issue 77, 1981, p.185-7, R.McNeil (Journal/Periodical). SCH1031.

<9> Dodd, L et al, 2009, Second Wood Street, Nantwich, 2003/4: Excavation of a Medieval And Early Post Medieval Salt Works, JCAS, Volume 84, 2010-2014, p.39-110 (Article in Journal). SCH7353.