The Lion Salt works at Marston still displays some remnants of its heyday, as illustrated here. Historically, salt production has been important to Cheshire since Roman times. By the 19th century the region produced 86% of the nation's salt.
The Lion Salt Works was established in 1894 by the Thompson family and closed 92 years later in 1986. The works produced salt by evaporating brine over an open fire in large lead pans, and the different salts they produced would be employed in the fishing, dairy and cosmetic industries. Workers could spend most of the week working, eating and sleeping at the works and were often joined by their families.
The historic brine salt making plant is now being renovated and goes on until 2014. The site is being restored and transformed into a unique heritage attraction. Led by Cheshire West and Chester Council, this £8 million project "will see the site reborn as a fascinating destination for tourists, day visitors and families."
Linking with this week's Signs, Signs blog.
great old sign and the renovation sounds promising!
ReplyDeleteI love your header! :)
ReplyDeleteAnd it's nice they intend to renovate the place, I can visit there as "tourist"some day!
Léia
I think this would be fascinating to visit.
ReplyDeleteI'm not so sure how nice it was to work, eat and sleep there during that time.
I like to escape my job every evening :)
This is the kind of place I find fascinating to visit. Very cool!
ReplyDeleteIt always seems an unlikely thing for Cheshire to be famous for, but I gather that even now a lot of the rock salt we use on icy roads comes from there.
ReplyDeleteLooks like the salt has worked it's wonders on this sign. Interesting sign.
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