INDUSTRIES 



After the Restoration the trade flourished, 

 though the number of pans fluctuated. 



In 1667, 121 pans were at work 

 „ 1668, 107 „ „ „ „ 



The salt-works near the Mill Dam had a some- 

 what disastrous history. Originally in the hands 

 of John Waller in 1708, they were sold to Sir 

 William Coles, who leased them from the dean 

 and chapter for twenty-one years for a rent of 

 40;. for the land and 10s. for each salt-pan. Sir 



to buy the salt-works at the valuation made by 

 Edward Fairless, who had apparently continued 

 to work them. Fairless valued the property at 

 ;^6io, but claimed so much for repairs that a 

 clause was inserted in the final agreement that 

 Robert Blunt should not be held answerable for 

 any claims advanced by Fairless. Eventually the 

 three daughters of Sir William Coles only re- 

 ceived ;^I50 for their share of the inheritance. 

 Isaac Cookson bought the property from the 

 executors of Robert Blunt — William Carr, of the 

 city of London, powder-flask maker, John Carr, 

 of the city of Dublin, John Wilkinson of 

 Horsley, John Simpson of Ovington Hall, and 

 Ruhumah Chicken of Ovington for ;^900. In 

 1745 he renewed the lease of the salt-works 

 from the dean and chapter. Possibly the salt- 

 works were continued to provide flux for the 

 newly-erected glass-works.'" 



THE ST«EIT IS THIS IN UENTH 86 VAROS FROM VC S : W TO Yt N '. EL : 



/ 



THIS IZ SUMP IN LEMTM 28 YARDS AND IN BRIO 8 YARDS I 



PLAN OF MILL DAM SALT WORKS 





fl 



William Coles, who spent most of his time in 

 London, appointed a manager, Charles Atkinson. 

 On the death of Sir William in 1717, Dame 

 Elizabeth, his widow, to whom the salt-works 

 were bequeathed for her life, refused to prove 

 the will as, according to Atkinson, only ^^40 

 had been made during the previous nine years. 

 Edward Fairless, disregarding the lack of legal 

 title, took a lease of it for seven years for /^<)(>- 

 On the death of Dame Elizabeth the heiresses. 

 Sir William's three daughters, Alice Brown, 

 Katherine Cowlans, and Margaret Coles, put a 

 mortgage on the salt-works, which was taken by 

 Robert Blunt. In 1726 Robert Blunt offered 



" Minute Book of the Ancient Vestry of St. Hilda's 

 Church, South Shields. I am indebted to Mr. Robert 

 Blair, F.S.A., for the use of his transcription of the MS. 



The rentals in the treasury cannot always be 

 relied upon, but according to them as late as 1 791 

 there were nearly two hundred salt-pans at South 

 Shields, by 1827 the number had decreased to 

 fifty, and for all practical purposes by the end of 

 the first half of the nineteenth century the Shields 

 salt trade was at an end, although salt-pans were 

 still worked as late as 1880 by Mrs. Cassidy in 

 West Holborn, but the brine was obtained from 

 rock salt,^' not from sea water. Various reasons, 



" From deeds in the possession of Mr. N. C. Cookson 

 and copies of leases in the Dur. Tre.isur)'. The plan 

 of the salt-works was attached to one of the Cookson 

 Deeds, 1708, and probably represented the property 

 as it existed at the end of the seventeenth century. 



"Cheshire rock salt was first brought to Durham 

 about 1825. 



299 



