DROITWICH could soon be drawing on its rich natural brine reserves and making its own salt again for the first time in almost 100 years.
It comes after taps and a pumping system were put back on the town’s Tower Hill on Tuesday (September 13).
The project to repump the brine is the brainchild of Coun Bob Brookes who wants the town to be well-known again for its salt production.
Now the pumps are in place the plan is to have the brine tested in laboratories to ensure it is still of good quality and fit for human consumption.
Funding for that, secured by Coun Richard Morris, has come from Wychavon District Council.
And on Tuesday, the town council’s communities and amenities committee recommended to fund the purchasing a 1,000 IBC unit, capable of holding 1,000 litres of brine.
It is thought the natural brine used previously in Droitwich is between 20 and 30 per cent natural salt, giving it a concentration ten times that of the sea.
Coun Brookes said: “This is one step in the long road to the town being able to produce salt again on a very small scale.
“We are very grateful to Wychavon District Council for making this possible.”
The last time Droitwich produced its own salt was in 1922 at the Covercroft factory. Back then there was a network of railway lines which used to take the salt from the Spa town to places all over the United Kingdom and then onto Europe.
During the 1900s salt factories dominated the area of the town now taken up by Vines Park.
Salt back then was one of the main food preservatives and it is thought that the popularity of people getting fridges around the 1920s led to the production’s demise
John Corbett (1817 to 1901) invested heavily in the salt industry during his lifetime and was known as the ‘Salt King’ and the Romans, when they invaded the British Isles, were also known to have deliberately chosen to settle in the area so they could manufacture and trade in its salt.
And in the very beginning – 200BC to 100BC – the salt even played a key role in Iron Age Britain.
Historian Alan Davey said: “I think it’s great – we are a Spa town and salt has been the heritage of Droitwich for the last 2,000 years so it would be wonderful if we could start producing it again.”
