Mr. A. B. Northcote on the Brine-springs of Cheshire. 459 
in addition to superiority of position, the no less important ad- 
vantage of greater concentration. From the date of that dis- 
covery the salt manufacture in Nantwich steadily declined, 
although the inhabitants still repaired annually on Ascension 
day to the “Old Biat,” their most ancient salt-pit, and adorning 
it with flowers, ribands, and green boughs, they danced round 
it to their rustic music, and sung a hymn of thanksgiving for 
the blessing of the brine. This old custom was discontinued 
about the middle of the last century, for the blessing which they 
celebrated was fast leaving them. In 1810* one salt-work only 
existed in the town, and that is now, I am told, done entirely 
away with and the pit closed. But while Nantwich has been 
thus descending in the scale, Middlewich and Northwich have 
been increasing in importance; and along the lines of water 
communication, the rivers Weaver and the Grand Trunk Canal 
which runs parallel with the river Wheelock, other places have 
sprung up from time to time. Of these the most important 
appear to be,— Winsford on the Weaver considerably below Nant- 
wich, Marston and Winnington on the same stream in the im- 
mediate neighbourhood of Northwich, and Anderton somewhat 
nearer the river’s mouth ; whilst on the Wheelock, in the vicinity 
of Sandbach, several works of great consequence have been esta- 
blished. A few statistics will show the immense increase which 
this branch of manufacture has undergone within a comparatively 
short period. Within the ten years from 1800 to 1810 the 
amount of salt produced in Northwich is said to have doubled, 
and the annual average of white or manufactured salt sent down 
the Weaver from Winsford and Northwich during that period was 
139,317 tons+; this appears to have been the entire amount 
shipped on the Weaver, and is therefore comparable with the 
total quantity of white salt{ (as distmguished from rock-salt} 
which was carried down that river im the year 1832, which 
amounted to 383,669 tons, and which by the year ending 
April 5, 1856, had increased to 709,514 tons. With this, other 
accounts agree; for Lyson states that in 1805-1806 the total 
annual produce of the Cheshire brine-pits, those of Nantwich and 
Frodsham excepted, was 16,590 tons ; whilst at the present time, 
single manufacturers, such as Mr. Blackwell of Wheelock, and 
Messrs. Kay of Winsford, produce respectively 70,000 tons, and 
from 50,000 to 60,000 tons of salt per annum. 
The salt which is now produced in Cheshire is made, I under- 
stand, exclusively from natural brine-springs ; but it has formerly 
at various times been obtained by dissolving rock-salt in water 
* Lysons’ Magna Britannia, vol. ii. part 2. p. 703. 
T rane Magna Britannia. 
{ Ure’s Dictionary of Arts and Manufactures, 3rd edit. p. 1091. 
