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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.

Until 1237 the manor of Northwich belonged to the Earls of Chester. Subsequently Northwich became a royal manor and was given to a noble family to collect tolls in exchange for a set rent.

That salt production continued throughout the centuries can be seen through John Leland's description of the town in 1540:^[3]:

Although Leland described Northwich as a market town, there is no surviving charter for a market or fair.^[2]

[edit] Salt Re-discovered

The salt beds beneath Northwich were re-discovered in the 1670s by employees of the local Smith-Barry family.^[4] 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.

During the 19th century it became uneconomical to mine for the salt. Instead hot water was pumped through the mines that dissolved the salt and the resultant brine was pumped out and the salt extracted from the brine. This technique was known as wild brine pumping or natural brine pumping but weakened mines and led to land subsidence as mines collapsed.

The Salt Museum, previously the workhouse

This subsidence affected the town and the surrounding landscape. For example collapses in 1880 formed Witton Flash as the River Weaver flowed into a huge hole caused by subsidence.

By removing underground salt, the salt industry caused huge areas of subsidence, and this 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 Salt Museum which is today located in the town's old workhouse.

[edit] Victorian chemical industry

In 1874, John Brunner and Ludwig Mond founded Brunner Mond in Winnington and started manufacturing soda ash using the Solvay ammonia-soda process. This process used salt as a main raw material.

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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Salt mine stabilisation

In February 2004 a £28 million programme to stabilise the abandoned salt mines underneath Northwich was begun.^[5] 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.

[edit] Future

Following the stabilisation of the mines, Northwich is to be developed in line with the 'Vision for Northwich'.^[6] 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^[7], was demolished and has been replaced by housing as Northwich Victoria football club sold the ground to relieve debt.

[edit] Demographics

Population of Northwich over the last 200 years has been:

• 1801: 1,338
• 1851: 1,377
• 1901: 17,611
• 1951: 17,489
• 2001: 19,259

The 2001 Census shows the population of Northwich to be 19,259. This was composed of 9,761 (50.7%) males and 9,498 (49.3%) females. There were 8,253 households.^[8]

[edit] Economics

[edit] The workforce

Based on the 2001 Census, Northwich had 13,928 people aged between 16 and 74. Of these, 8,908 (64.0%) people were categorised as economically active; 4,268 (30.6%) were economically inactive; 455 (3.3%) were unemployed.^[9]

[edit] The chemical industry

ICI Winnington Works seen from the Anderton Boat Lift in 1992

Allied to the extraction of salt was a bulk chemical industry, which became concentrated at the three ICI sites at Winnington, Wallerscote and Lostock. The first industrially practical method for producing polythene was accidentally discovered at the Winnington works in 1933.^[10]

[edit] Other industries

Other major local employers include:

• Frank Roberts & Sons Bakery has been associated with the town since 1887 and continues to be based near the town at Rudheath on the A556.
• Morrisons supermarket has a large distribution centre on the A530 south of the town.
• Orange and Barclays Bank both have contact centres at Gadbrook Park, off the A556 south of the town.

There are also major employers in nearby Hartford.

[edit] Twin towns

Dole, France.

[edit] Education

Northwich and its surroundings has a number of schools and colleges. Some of these include:

• Mid Cheshire college, a further education college
• Sir John Deane's College, a sixth form college
• County High School Leftwich, a comprehensive school
• Rudheath Community High School, a specialist performing arts college
• St. Nicholas Catholic High School, a comprehensive school
• The Grange School, an independent school which is consistently the top school for A-Level performance in Cheshire^{[11][12][13][14]}

[edit] Culture, media and sport

[edit] Culture

[edit] Theatre and cinema

Northwich is home to the Harlequin Theatre which produces six plays every year.

It is also home to the Purple Cactus Comedy Club, based at the Northwich Memorial Hall, a Monthly Comedy Club which has grown from a small town venue to one of the biggest and busiest comedy clubs in the country.^{[citation needed]}

The Regal cinema was closed in 2007.

[edit] Music

Northwich has a rich musical history, with a number of locals being part of bands such as Placebo, which provided the soundtrack to the film Cruel Intentions. Tim Burgess from the Charlatans lived in Northwich. The band were originally managed by Steve Harrison from the Omega Music record store in the town [1].

Over the August Bank Holiday Weekend Northwich Festival [2] is held at Moss Farm Sports Complex. Featuring 4 days of music and sport with the main attraction for the Monday being the UK Strongman-North Competition [3].

[edit] Literature

Northwich has its own fictional hero in the form of the ultimate ghost-hunter, James Boag-Munroe. The creation is the work of local Horror author Stuart Neild. The first novel, titled A Haunted Man, features Boag-Munroe's adventures in the haunted salt mines that run underneath Northwich, combining fact with supernatural fiction. More novels are on the way featuring Northwich and other North West locations as the backdrops to the novels. A Hollywood film and television series is also in development based on the books.^[15]

[edit] Sport

Northwich is the home of two non-league football teams, Northwich Victoria and Witton Albion. The town has two rugby union sides Northwich RUFC and Winnington Park; Winnington Park also fields a rugby league side.

The Thundersprint motorcycling event is held every May Bank Holiday in Northwich. This event attracts over 130,000 people over the two days, and claims to be the world's biggest street bike party.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Media

Northwich has two local newspapers: the Northwich Guardian, published by Newsquest, and the Northwich Chronicle, published by Trinity Mirror. A radio station, Cheshire FM, covers the mid-Cheshire area including Northwich.

[edit] Transport

The key historical mode of transport is water. Not only are there the two rivers, but also the Trent and Mersey Canal passes the town. The Anderton Boat Lift connects the canal and river systems, and following its restoration now houses a visitor centre.

The A556 acts as a bypass to the town to the south and provides access to the M6 motorway at Junction 19. Northwich is also signposted from the M56 motorway to the north of the town via the A559.

Northwich railway station is on the Mid-Cheshire line between Chester to Manchester. There are also stations within close vicinity at Greenbank, also on the Mid-Cheshire line, and Hartford (on the West Coast Main Line).

There are bus routes between Northwich and a number of local towns, including Weaverham, Winsford, Crewe, Warrington, Kelsall and Chester.^[16]

[edit] Landmarks

[edit] Churches

St. Helen Witton Church, Northwich, Cheshire

The parish church is known as St. Helen's Witton. The church initially developed as a Chapel of Ease associated with the parish of Great Budworth to serve the local community, known as the Chapel of Witton. There is no known date for the creation of this chapel, but it is thought to have existed in the 13th century. None of this building exists in the current church. There is no documentary evidence to indicate the dates of the older parts of the current building. However stones in the fabric of the porch carry inscriptions attributed to "Ricardus Alkoke Capellanus". This name matches documents concerning land in Northwich and Lostock Gralam dated 1468, but this cannot be used to date the church accurately.^[17]

It was not until 7 August 1900 that the parish of Witton (otherwise Northwich) was formed from parts of Great Budworth, Davenham and other surrounding parishes.

The present St Wilfrid's (Roman Catholic) church was built in 1866.

[edit] Workhouse and salt museum

Main article: Salt Museum, Northwich

The Northwich Union Workhouse opened in 1837 following the Poor Law Amendment of 1834 that standardised the system of poor relief throughout Britain. The building is now the Salt Museum.

[edit] Dock Road Edwardian pumping station

The Dock Road Edwardian Pumping Station is a Grade II Listed Building originally built by Northwich Urban District Council in 1913. For over 60 years it was used for pumping sewage from parts of Northwich to the Wallerscote Treatment Works. Before it was built, untreated sewage was discharged directly into the River Weaver, causing widespread pollution.

The station was equipped with two single-cylinder Crossley gas-fired engines and two Haywood Tyler triplex lift and force pumps, capable of pumping 9,600 gallons per hour. In later years, electric pumps, capable of pumping 36,000 gallons per hour replaced these but the originals have been restored.

The current owners are United Utilities (previously North West Water). The station is open to the public^[18].

[edit] Other structures

Town Bridge, Northwich, Cheshire

Two swing bridges, Hayhurst Bridge built in 1898, and Town Bridge built in 1899, cross the Weaver at Northwich. The bridges were the first two electrically-powered swing bridges in Great Britain^[19] and were built on floating pontoons to counteract the mine subsidence. They were designed by Colonel John Saner.

The Floatel (a floating hotel) is moored near the confluence of the two rivers.

[edit] Notable Northwichians

All of the following allegedly either are from or lived in Northwich at some point in their lives:

[edit] See also

Cheshire Portal

• St Helen Witton Church, Northwich
• Northwich category
• Salt in Cheshire
• Brunner Mond
• Winnington Hall

[edit] External links

• Vale Royal District Council
• Brunner Mond
• Northwich Town Council
• Northwich Vision
• The Salt Museum
• Grade I and II listed buildings in Northwich

[edit] References