A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



of cement. There are also manufactures of the 

 varieties of cement known as Keene's and Parian, 

 and of plaster of Paris, at Mountfield, controlled 

 by ' The Gypsum Mines, Ltd.' This industry 

 originated in 1872 as the result of scientific 

 borings made at Mountfield for geological purposes. 

 During these experiments a rich bed of gypsum 

 was struck at a depth of 1 60 ft., and has since 

 been worked with great success. Gypsum is 

 sometimes sold in the natural state for use in 

 brewing, but for the most part it is converted 

 into plaster of Paris by desiccation for some four 

 and twenty hours in a kiln. The blocks required 

 for cement are burnt, in much the same way as 

 chalk for lime, and then ground and sifted 

 previous to receiving the distinctive treatment 

 required : 



Keene's cement is made by treating the burnt 

 gypsum with one part of alum to twelve parts of 

 water at a temperature of about 95 degrees. Having 

 stood three hours the material is re-baked in the 

 furnace, and then thoroughly ground and powdered. 

 When so treated it requires less water, sets more 

 slowly, and acquires a tenacity half as great again as 

 that of ordinary cement. Parian cement is ordinary 

 plaster hardened with water containing ten per cent, 

 of borax, and afterwards rebaked and ground. Stucco 

 is plaster prepared with a strong solution of glue. 63 



The beds of red ochre at GrafFham, Chidham, 

 and elsewhere, and of fuller's earth at Tillington, 

 do not call for special treatment. Nor do the 

 chemical works near Rye and Lancing ; M and 

 the only mineral substance which remains to be 

 dealt with here is SALT. Valuable as salt is now 

 as a condiment, it would be difficult to over- 

 estimate its value in early times when modern 

 preservative methods and artificial foods for the 

 support of cattle during the winterwere unknown, 

 and the population were dependent for their 

 meat supply during part of the year upon salted 

 provisions. The great source of salt was the 

 sea, and the industry of salt-making flourished 

 all along the coast, and not least in Sussex. The 

 simple method employed at Appledram as late as 

 the nineteenth century was to admit sea water 

 into a series of broad, shallow ' pans,' or ponds 

 with clay bottoms. The water was reduced in 

 three or four days by the heat of the sun to a 

 strong brine, which was further concentrated by 

 boiling in shallow iron vessels, and was then 

 allowed to cool, when the salt crystallized out and 

 the remaining liquor was drawn off. 66 Another 

 method commonly employed in England was to 

 allow the sea water to flow over a sandy soil, or 

 ' sleech,' exposed to the sun's rays, and after 

 collecting the top layer of sand and salt crystals, 

 dissolve the latter in a pit filled with salt water, 

 filtering through peat and concentrating as before 

 by boiling. sa Possibly both these processes were 



63 Suss. Indus. 67-74. 



" Suss. Arch. Coll. xxv, 85. 



66 y.C.H. Essex, i, 380. 



"Ibid. 116-25. 



used in Sussex in early times. In 1 086 there 

 were in the county, according to the Domesday 

 Survey, 285 salt-pans, varying greatly in value, 

 but worth on an average 2*. bd. each. 67 Of these 

 I oo were on the lands of the abbey of Fe'camp, 

 in the marshes round Rye and Winchelsea ; in 

 Pevensey Levels were another 26, exclusive of 

 1 6 belonging to Eastbourne manor on the one 

 side, and 30 belonging to Hooe on the other. 

 In the estuary of the Ouse only 1 1 are men- 

 tioned, but in that of the Adur were 42, besides 

 an unspecified number in Coombes, which yielded 

 50*. $d. An entry under the manor of Washing- 

 ton 68 shows that the five salt-pans in that manor 

 yielded yearly no 'ambers' of salt worth <)s.2d. t 

 so that the 'amber' was clearly worth id. It is 

 worth noticing that at this time, and for some 

 centuries later, the water flowed sufficiently salt 

 for salt-making at least as high as Bramber. 

 About the end of the twelfth century a salt-pan 

 close to the castle of Bramber was given to Box- 

 grove priory, 59 the ' aqua de Cnappe ' occurs in 

 1200 amongst the 'aque salsae,' 60 tithes of salt 

 are mentioned here and at Sele in the Nonae 

 returns of 1 34 1, 61 and salt works occur at 

 Bramber in I4O4, 62 and again as late as I422. 63 

 Grants of salt-pans and salt-cotes, the buildings 

 in which the manufacture was carried on, were 

 frequently made to monastic houses, as, for in- 

 stance, a salt-pan in Lancing called ' Oxeneput,' 

 to Dureford Abbey, 64 and the ' Guldenesaltkote ' 

 in Pevensey marsh to the abbey of Otham. 6 * 

 Rents of salt are also of common occurrence ; 66 

 the villeins of Otham who held half a virgate of 

 land were bound to carry to their lord's court an 

 amber of salt from the pan at Otham, 67 and 

 special arrangements were made towards the end 

 of the thirteenth century by the dean of Hastings 

 for the delivery of the salt due to his prebend. 68 

 All these facts point to the extent of the industry, 

 which is further borne out by the numerous entries 

 of the sale of salt at Winchelsea to French, Dutch, 

 and other merchants between 1266 and I272, 69 

 in spite of the great destruction wrought amongst 

 the salt-cotes in this place by the storm in I25O. 70 

 Further havoc must have been wrought along 

 the coast by the great storm of 1287, to which 

 we may probably attribute the destruction of 

 seventy salt-cotes at Lancing, the tithes of which 



" V.C.H. Suss, i, 367. 

 68 Ibid. 444. 



59 Cott. MS. Vesp. E. xxiii, fol. 50. 



60 Gervase of Cant. Opera (Rolls Ser.), ii. 



61 Inq. Non. (Rec. Com.), 389. 

 6> Anct. D., A 11033. 



63 Ibid. 9865. 



64 Cott. MS. Claud. A. vi, fol. 77. 

 "Add. MS. 6037, No. 50. 



66 e.g. Anct. D. D 1073. 



67 Salzmann, Hist. ofHailsham, 1 77. 



68 Cat. Chart. R. ii, 251. 



63 Mins. Accts. bdle. 1031, Nos. 19-21. 

 70 Cooper,/////, of Winchelsea, 14. 



232 



