Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

SUBSIDENCE OF A HOUSE AT NORTHWICH. WITH THE SALT WORKERS IN A CHESHIRE MINE. “ A PIXCH of salt” seems a trivial com- 1 x modity, yet common salt, composed of sodium and chlorine, is indispens- able ; and the use of it has been responsible for romance, superstition, and effort in many lands. Salt is mentioned in the Scriptures as an article of food and as a token of good faith. The Arab will safeguard foe if he has “ eaten of his salt ” ; the saying “ true to his salt ” indicates that the Sepoy is loyal ; and the Turk, though keen at a bargain, may be trusted if he has eaten bread and salt over a business transaction. Salt is necessary to the vitality of vegeta- tion, and to the existence of the animal kingdom : and Nature, fortunately, gives an inexhaustible supply of it in rock salt, earth salt, brine spring, salt lake, sea, and desert. Britain, rich in mineral wealth, has a great store of salt, both in rock and brine, but Cheshire and Worcestershire are the chie salt-producing areas. Originally salt was obtained entirely from brine, and was of so much account that the Roman soldiery who invaded England were partially paid their wages in salt, a custom that created the word salarium, familiar now to every industrious person in the shape of “ salary.” The salt manufacturers have located works in and about Northwich, Middlewich, Wins- ford, Sandbach, and Droitwich ; but North- wich is perhaps the most interesting centre of the salt industry. The perpetual pumping of brine is followed by a slow but scarcely perilous settling of the land. The foundations of houses and shops give, and habitations and business places lurching forward or leaning backward or aside have rather a convivial look, as if the saline in the atmosphere had induced a thirst that only inebriation could assuage. Northwich, notwithstanding, is a perfectly safe place to live in. The buildings are not dangerous in their rollicking1. There are extraordinary stories of strange occurrences, of narrow escapes, and of actual engulfment when ground and buildings have collapsed ; but the majority of these legends may appropriately be taken cum grano salis ; loss of life is rare, either from subsidence or rock salt mining. The writer was, how- ever, shown a two-stalled stable standing all awry on sunken ground, and told that a horse haltered for the night in one stall had dis- appeared the next morning. The animal had not broken away, the ground had given beneath its feet; it had been swallowed up either in a brine pit or an old shaft. \\ here the chief industry changes the contour of the ground a special style of architecture and special use of brick and