A saunter round Salt Town.

This morning was bright and we had a full day in Droitwich. First off was to find a salon so Helen could have a pedicure. That done they said they would work on her straight away so I was banished for a walk and off I went to find the Lido Park. It was lovely in the sunshine. It is called the lido as there is an open air swimming pool, and this being Droitwich it is made to be as salty as the sea. You can't go far before you realise that Droitwich is all about salt. Salt has been found here probably since iron age times. The seam of rock salt is about 200 feet below ground below a layer of alabaster. It had naturally seeped to the surface and this is where it was first worked. In Vines Park next to the canal was the main site where the liquor came to the surface. It was bailed out of the pit and then processed. The Roman name for Droitwich was Salinae (the place of salt). It was originally just Wich and that becane attached to places related to salt production. Originally the salt was governed by the Town Council and the town became very rich indeed.

This is the reconstructed brine pit Upwich in Vines Park. The brine that came up was the richest and purest in the country. There is 2.5lbs of salt in each gallon of brine. That is about 13 times saltier than the sea. The Dead Sea is only 10 times saltier.

After about 1700 the monopoly of the brine was broken and the production went into over drive. Wells were driven and unbelievably there were gushers of brine that killed folk when they erupted to the surface. The water table naturally flows through the rock salt so a river of brine flows under the town. At one time Droitwich alone provided a third of the UK requirements. The salt brought much money to the town and there are there are many surviving old buildings surviving from that time. With the extraction of the rock salt/brine came subsidence and some of these old buildings are cutely higgeldy piggldy.

This is an area near Gurney's Lane where one of the last pumping stations is still visible. See yesterday's picture.

The High Street has some nice buildings and although this photo doesn't do it justice the houses seem to lean each way.

The last working salt working was in about 1922. This pump house was built in about 1890 but wasn't really used until 1921. This pump house is still in use to supply brine to the private hospital brine therapy pool and the council lido.

Droitwich became an industrial slum with the pollution of the smoke from the fires for the evaporation process and the houses were so old they were falling down and insanitary. Along came a man called John Corbett. He was from Brierley Hill in the Black Country and worked in his father's canal boat company. When they sold up John used his half to buy into the salt industry. He moved the main point of extraction to Stoke Prior outside Droitwich and eventually built the largest salt works in Europe producing about 200,000 tons a year in 1888. With the vast profits he was making he decided to buy up land in Droitwich and build the area up again. The emphasis changed to using the brine for health purposes and Droitwich became a spa. However here there was no drinking the water, here it was immersion in the brine. He built hotels and bath houses and the town had a new life with people coming from far and wide

The Raven hotel was bought by John Corbett and greatly extended to accommodate the spa users. The original bit replaced a building from 1290 in 16th Century. There are big plans to redevelop the big site at the moment.

We called in at the Heritage Centre which is housed in the entrance to one of the old Spa Baths called Sir Richard's House. The display was very good and there was information about Droitwich Wireless station that is still transmitting. The staff there were very friendly and told us of a Catholic church about 15 mins walk away that was a must to go and see.

This little square at the end of the High Street made me feel like I was in France! On the left is St. Andrew's Church that had it's tower removed incase it fell due to subsidence. The black and white building is the old Town Hall and police station. Originally the Town Hall was above an open market area. The high arches on the ground floor were open until the second world war.

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We walked up to find the Church of the Sacred Heart and St. Catherine of Alexandria. If the lights aren't on there is a meter where you put a pound in and the lights are illuminated for about 15 mins. You would be crazy not to lit up these beautiful mosaics. From the outside you wouldn't know it is anything special as it is just a 1930's brick built church. The Sacred Heart Fathers of Betharram inaugurated a church in Droitwich in1908. This Church was built between 1919 and 1921. The main benefactor was a Walter Hodkinson. The architect was Barry Peacock and the mosaic designer was Gabriel Pippet. He and his helpers Maurice Josey and Fred Oates took almost 11 years to complete the designs.

On one side of the church are mosaics representing events in the life of Mary and on the other scenes from the life of St Richard who is the patron saint of Droitwich. He was born here and his miracle was to bless the brine wells when they had stopped flowing and immediately they started again

The carving on the columns were quite delicately done too.

Just by the shopping centre is this tiled picture that looked really nice in the sun.

We got back to the boat after a pint at the Old Cock Inn and as the sun was beautiful we felt we had to be out in it. Helen decided a chair and book were the way forward. I sanded down the plank again and then stained it. It looks really good and will make a great seat across the benches.

After a great day yesterday despite the wind we have had another great day today. Droitwich is a good spot to stop over for a day, especially when the sun is shining! The Town's motto is 'Sal Sapit Omnia' which means 'Salt flavours all'!