INDUSTRIES 



After the Restoration the trade flourished, 

 though the number of pans fluctuated. 



In 1667, izi pans were at work 



1668, 107 



1669, 122 



1671, 119 



1672, no 



1673, 112 



1674, "9 



1677, 33 



1688, 119 



1694, 139 



1701, 143 



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 

 401. for the land and 101. 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 

 610, 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 150 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 <)OO. 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. 4 * 



PLAN OF MILL DAM SALT WORKS 



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 ^96. 

 On the death of Dame Elizabeth the heiresses, 

 Sir William's three daughters, Alice Brown, 

 (Catherine Cowlans, and Margaret Coles, put a 

 mortgage on the salt-works, which was taken by 

 Robert Blunt. In 1726 Robert Blunt offered 



41 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 1791 

 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, 43 not from sea water. Various reasons, 



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

 and copies of leases in the Dur. Treasury. 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 



