458 Mr. A. B. Northcote on the Brine-springs of Cheshire. 
portion of two-thirds to the king and one-third to the Earl of 
Chester. Upon the Conqueror’s accession, the earldom was 
given to Hugh Lupus, his nephew; but the property attached 
to it had diminished in value; for it is recorded that the salt- 
works at Middlewich and Nantwich, which under the Saxon rule 
had produced a rental of £16 per annum, had fallen into com- 
plete disuse ; and that those at Nantwich, from which an annual 
income of £20 had been derived, were almost as much neglected, 
for out of eight salt-works which had formerly flourished at this 
latter place, one only was at that time in operation. This period 
of depression was not, however, of long duration, for shortly 
afterwards a partial recovery had taken place, since the Nantwich 
salt-works are spoken of as being let to farm by the Crown at 
£10, the Middlewich at 25 shillings, and the Northwich at 35 
shillings per annum*. It is thought probable that at this period 
the chief export of Cheshire salt was to Wales, for the Welsh 
gave to Nantwich the name of Hellath Wen, or the white salt- 
pit; much export trade could not have been carried on, for very 
long after this date, the salt manufacture of Cheshire did not 
exceed the consumption of the county itself, and a few of its im- 
mediately adjoining neighbourst. 
It is curious to observe how the importance of places decreases 
in course of time through the effect of influences, at first appa- 
rently but slightly adverse, becoming under somewhat altered 
circumstances highly detrimental. Nantwich throughout the 
whole of its early history held the first rank among the salt- 
producing towns ;—there were situated the brine-pits which 
Henry III. stopped up in order to distress the Welsh by cutting 
off their supply of that necessary article of food; and when this 
embargo upon the commercial activity of the town was with- 
drawn, we find it far surpassing its former self m the energy of 
its undertakings. This increasing prosperity and wealth con- 
tinued until it reached a culminating point, from which it has 
ever since gradually but irretrievably descended. It seems to 
have attained its summit in the time of Henry VIII., for 
Leland states that at that time Nantwich contained 300 salt- 
works: their reduction then began, and in the early part of the 
reign of Queen Elizabeth their number had decreased to 216, 
whilst in 1624 they had dwindled nearly to 150. The cause of 
this declension was want of water-carriage, Nantwich being un- 
fortunately situated beyond that point of the Weaver up to which 
it was navigable; a more advantageous locality was therefore 
sought for; the banks of the river were examined, and other 
springs found in more favoured situations, possessing moreover, 
* Lysons’ Magna Britannia, vol. ii. part 2, p, 408 (1810). 
+ Thbid. pp. 408; 409. 
