The history of Northwich can be traced back to the Roman period. The area around Northwich has been exploited for its salt pans since this time. The town has been severely affected by salt mining with subsidence historically being a large issue. A programme of mine stabilisation has recently been undertaken.
Northwich can be identified through two contemporary Roman documents. The first of these is the Antonine Itinerary, a 3rd-century road map split into fourteen sections. Itinerary II is called "the route from the Vallum to the port of Rutupiae". It describes the route between Hadrian's Wall in northern England and Richborough on the Kent coast. The station Condate is listed 18 miles from Mamucium (now Manchester) and 20 miles from Deva Victrix (now Chester). Itinerary X is called "the route from Glannoventa to Mediolanum" and details the route between Ravenglass fort, Cumbria and Mediolanum (now Whitchurch, Shropshire). In this description Condate is described as 19 miles before the routes end at Whitchurch and, again, as 18 miles from Manchester.[2]
The Roman's interest in the Northwich area is thought to be due to the strategic river crossing and the location of the salt brines.[1] Salt was very important in Roman society.[3] The Roman word salarium, linked employment, salt and soldiers, but the exact link is unclear. It is also theorised that this is the basis for the modern word salary. Another theory is that the word soldier itself comes from the Latin sal dare (to give salt). See History of salt for further details. There is archaeological evidence of a Roman auxiliary fort within the area of Northwich now known as "Castle" dated to 70AD.[1] This and other North West forts were built as the Romans moved north from their stronghold in Chester.[1]
The fort was situated on the west side of the River Weaver. The excavation of the fort started from 1983 onwards and reveals two phases of military presence. The initial one commenced around AD 70, and the subsequent one concluded around AD 140. The fort was more compact during its second occupation. Excavations discovered the remains of barrack blocks and courtyard building thought to be a Praetorium, or commandant's house.[1]
The Romans used lead salt pans to extract the salt from the brine. Salt pans and 1st-century brine kilns have all been found around the Roman fort.[1]
Medieval
The association with salt continues in the etymology of Northwich. The "wich" (or wych) suffix applies to other towns in the area - namely Middlewich, Nantwich and Leftwich. This is considered to have been derived from the Norse, "wic", for bay and is associated with the more traditional method of obtaining salt from evaporating sea water. Therefore, a place for making salt became a wych-house; and Northwich was the most northern of the Wich towns in Cheshire.[4]
The existence of Northwich in the early medieval period is shown by its record in the Domesday Book:[5]
In the same Mildestuic hundred there was a third wich called Norwich [Northwich] and it was at farm for £8.
There were the same laws and customs there as there were in the other wiches and the king and the earl similarly divided the renders. ...All the other customs in these wiches are the same.
This was waste when (Earl) Hugh received it; it is now worth 35s.
—Henry Ellis, A General Introduction to Domesday Book
It shows that by 1086 the town was producing salt and was valued the same as Middlewich at £8, although less than the £21 value given to Nantwich. It is unclear if salt extraction had continued from the Roman to Medieval periods.
The manor of Northwich belonged to the Earls of Chester. However, in 1237 the family line died out. Subsequently, Northwich became a royal manor and was given to a noble family to collect tolls in exchange for a set rent.[6] By 1484 this family was the Stanley's, later Earls of Derby and stayed in the family's hands until the late 18th century.[1]
That salt production continued throughout the centuries can be seen through John Leland's description of the town in 1540:[7]
Northwich is a pratie market town but fowle,
and by the Salters houses be great stakes of smaul cloven wood,
to seethe the salt water that thei make white salt of.
—cited in Fred H. Crossley, Cheshire
Although Leland described Northwich as a market town, there is no surviving charter for a market or fair.[1] A market still exists today.
The salt beds beneath Northwich were re-discovered in the 1670s by employees of the local Smith-Barry family.[8] The Smith-Barrys were looking for coal, but instead discovered rock salt, in the grounds of the family home, Marbury Hall, to the north of Northwich. Soon salt mining started again. This mining area is now known as Dairy House Meadow.
By 1732 the River Weaver was improved from Frodsham Bridge to Winsford Bridge and eventually allowed vessels up to 160 tonnes (160,000kg) to travel up to Northwich Bridge.[1] This allowed salt to be transported by boat rather than cart. The Trent and Mersey Canal, opened in 1775, passed to the north of Northwich because of objections from the trustees of the Weaver Navigation. However, the canal passed salt deposits near the village of Marston, and many of the later salt works were based along its banks including the Lion Salt Works and New Cheshire Salt Works. The Anderton Boat Lift was opened in 1875[9] to connect the canal and river systems.
Weaver Hall Museum, previously the workhouse
An important development occurred when it became uneconomical to mine for the salt. Instead hot water was pumped through the mines, which dissolved the salt.[8] The resultant brine was pumped out and the salt extracted from the brine. This technique weakened the mines and led to land subsidence as they collapsed. Subsidence affected the town and the surrounding landscape.[8] For example, collapses in 1880 formed Witton Flash as the River Weaver flowed into a huge hole caused by subsidence.[10] Subsidence also allegedly accounts for many old timber-framed houses in the town centre, which were better able to withstand the movement of the ground. Some houses were built on a base of steel girders which could be jacked up to level the house with each change in the underlying ground. The town's historical link with the salt industry is celebrated in its Museum which is today located in the town's old workhouse.
Victorian expansion
The 19th century saw major changes for the town. A local board was founded on 26 June 1863 under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1858 to serve the original thirteen acres of the manor of Northwich. In 1875 this merged with its much larger neighbour at Witton cum Twambrooks were amalgamanted, and the resultant area was further extended in 1880 to include the whole of Castle Northwich and parts of Hartford, Winnington and Leftwich. On 10 September 1894 these areas were united as the civil parish of Northwich, served by Northwich Urban District Council.[11] Further expansion took place in 1936 by the addition of parts of Winnington, Lostock Gralam, Barnton, Leftwich and Rudheath, and again in 1955 when parts of Davenham, Hartford, Rudheath and Whatcroft were added [12]
The chemical industry used the subsided land for the disposal of waste from the manufacture of soda-ash. The waste was transported through a network of cranes and rails to the produce limebeds. This was a dangerous alkaline substance and caused the landscape to be abandoned as unusable.
Brunner Mond later amalgamated with three other chemical companies in 1926 to form Imperial Chemical Industries, better known as ICI, which was for many years one of Europe's leading chemical companies in both chemical production and research.
Reclamation
In 1975 Marbury Country Park was the first area to be reclaimed from dereliction and has become a popular recreational area.
In 1987 more land was reclaimed to form Furey Wood and over later years, Cheshire County Council's Land Regeneration Unit reclaimed what is now known as Anderton Nature Park, Witton Flash, Dairy House Meadows, Witton Mill Meadows, and Ashton's and Neumann's Flashes. Much of the funding for the creation of these public areas has been supplied from the North West Development Agency and now extends to approximately 323 hectares of public space known as Northwich Community Woodlands.[8]
Salt mine stabilisation
In February 2004 a £28 million programme to stabilise the abandoned salt mines underneath Northwich was begun.[15] The work was funded by the English Partnerships through its Land Stabilisation Programme, introduced to resolve issues associated with unstable mines around England.
The four mines identified for work were Baron's Quay, Witton Bank, Neumann's and Penny's Lane. These mines were chosen because their subsidence was causing problems for the town centre.
When they were abandoned the mines were left with supporting salt pillars. Modern salt mining leaves around 30% of the salt to form the pillars but, because of the wild-brine pumping, the 19th century mines under Northwich were left with sometimes only 5% of the salt to form the pillars which has since been found to be inadequate. To provide additional support in the 1920s brine was used to flood the mines. However ground movement has been detected and has effectively ceased development in Northwich town centre.
The current stabilisation plan involves removing millions of litres of brine from the four mines and replacing it with a mixture of pulverised fuel ash (PFA), cement and salt. The PFA arrives by rail; the cement and salt by road. The grout is mixed at Brunner Mond, Winnington from where it is pumped via a pipeline into the mines through a series of boreholes around the town.
The removed brine is pumped in the opposite direction to Winnington and then taken by train to British Salt in Middlewich. Here the brine is put to use in many products such as water softeners and road de-icers.
The project was completed in late 2007.
Future
Following the stabilisation of the mines, Northwich is to be developed in line with the 'Vision for Northwich'.[16] The vision, if completed, will see the old concrete County Council buildings and Magistrates Court demolished and replaced with more modern buildings.
New housing developments continue to appear around Northwich. In 2002 the Drill Field, the world's oldest football ground,[17] was demolished and has been replaced by housing as Northwich Victoria football club sold the ground to relieve debt.
A Debenhams store is planned to be built at Barons Quay along with a cinema and 40 new shops.[18]
The River Weaver is a river, navigable in its lower reaches, running in a curving route anti-clockwise across west Cheshire, northern England. Improvements to the river to make it navigable were authorised in 1720 and the work, which included eleven locks, was completed in 1732. An unusual clause in the enabling Act of Parliament stipulated that profits should be given to the County of Cheshire for the improvement of roads and bridges, but the navigation was not initially profitable, and it was 1775 before the first payments were made. Trade continued to rise, and by 1845, over £500,000 had been given to the county.
Northwich is a market and port town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It lies in the heart of the Cheshire Plain, at the confluence of the rivers Weaver and Dane. The town is about 18 miles (29 km) east of Chester, 15 miles (24 km) south of Warrington, and 19 miles (31 km) south of Manchester.
Middlewich is a town in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is located 19.2 miles (30.9 km) east of Chester, 2.9 miles (4.7 km) east of Winsford, 5.3 miles (8.5 km) south-east of Northwich and 4.7 miles (7.6 km) north-west of Sandbach. The population at the 2011 Census was 13,595. Middlewich, together with Northwich and Winsford, forms part of the Central Cheshire conurbation, with an estimated 2023 population of 130,000.
The history of Cheshire can be traced back to the Hoxnian Interglacial, between 400,000 and 380,000 years BP. Primitive tools that date to that period have been found. Stone Age remains have been found showing more permanent habitation during the Neolithic period, and by the Iron Age the area is known to have been occupied by the Celtic Cornovii tribe and possibly the Deceangli.
Salt, also referred to as table salt or by its chemical formula NaCl, is an ionic compound made of sodium and chloride ions. All life depends on its chemical properties to survive. It has been used by humans for thousands of years, from food preservation to seasoning. Salt's ability to preserve food was a founding contributor to the development of civilization. It helped eliminate dependence on seasonal availability of food, and made it possible to transport food over large distances. However, salt was often difficult to obtain, so it was a highly valued trade item, and was considered a form of currency by many societies, including Rome. According to Pliny the Elder, Roman soldiers were paid in salt, from which the word salary is derived, although this is disputed by historians. Many salt roads, such as the Via Salaria in Italy, had been established by the Bronze Age.
Winsford is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the River Weaver south of Northwich and west of Middlewich. It grew around the salt mining industry after the river was canalised in the 18th century, allowing freight to be conveyed northwards to the Port of Runcorn on the River Mersey. The town of Winsford has an estimated population of 35,500 in 2024.
Weaver Vale was a constituency in Cheshire represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament.
Winnington is a ward and northwestern suburb of the town of Northwich, in the Cheshire West and Chester borough of Cheshire, England.
A "-wich town" is a settlement in Anglo-Saxon England characterised by extensive artisanal activity and trade – an "emporium". The name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon suffix -wīc, signifying "a dwelling or fortified place".
Middlewich, a town in northwest England, lies on the confluence of three rivers – the Dane, the Croco and the Wheelock. Most importantly for the history of salt making, it also lies on the site of a prehistoric brine spring.
Middlewich is one of the Wich towns in Cheshire, England.
The Lion Salt Works is the last remaining open pan salt works in Marston, near Northwich, Cheshire, England. It closed as a works in 1986 and is now preserved as a museum.
Cheshire is a county in North West England. Rock salt was laid down in this region some 220 million years ago, during the Triassic period. Seawater moved inland from an open sea, creating a chain of shallow salt marshes across what is today the Cheshire Basin. As the marshes evaporated, deep deposits of rock salt were formed.
Open-pan salt making is a method of salt production wherein salt is extracted from brine using open pans.
Tata Chemicals Europe is a UK-based chemicals company that is a subsidiary of Tata Chemicals Limited, itself a part of the India-based Tata Group. Its principal products are soda ash, sodium bicarbonate, calcium chloride and associated alkaline chemicals.
Warmingham is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the River Wheelock, 3.25 miles (5.23 km) north of Crewe, 3.25 miles (5.23 km) south of Middlewich and 3.25 miles (5.23 km) miles west of Sandbach. The parish also includes the small settlement of Lane Ends, with a total population of just under 250. Nearby villages include Minshull Vernon, Moston and Wimboldsley.
Northwich Woodlands is an area of 373 hectares of publicly accessible countryside near Northwich in Cheshire, England. It comprises nine separate woods, country parks, lakes and parks, many of which are connected to each other via footpaths and other rights of way. Much of the land was formerly industrial and used for mining salt and manufacturing chemicals. The extraction of salt caused subsidence leading to the formation of pools known as flashes. The land became derelict during the 20th century as the salt industry contracted. Much of the area has now been reclaimed for the purposes of conservation and recreation and forms part of the Mersey Forest initiative.
Northwich Rural District was a rural district surrounding, but not including the towns of Northwich and Winsford in Cheshire, which were separate urban districts. It was created in 1894 from the Northwich Rural Sanitary District.
Northwich is a civil parish and a town in Cheshire West and Chester, England. It contains 35 buildings that are recorded in the National Heritage List for England as designated listed buildings. Two of these are listed at Grade I, the highest grade, and the rest at the lowest grade, Grade II; none are listed at the middle grade, Grade II*. The River Dane joins the River Weaver and the Weaver Navigation within the parish. Also passing through the parish are the A533 road, the Trent and Mersey Canal, and a railway built by the Cheshire Lines Committee. Many of the listed buildings are associated with these features.
Sir Joseph Verdin, 1st Baronet, was a British salt industrialist, philanthropist and the Justice of the Peace, Deputy Lieutenant and County Alderman for the County of Cheshire. He was elevated to the Baronetage on 24 July 1896 and knighted in 1897. He later became Justice of the Peace for Herefordshire and High Sheriff in 1903.
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