October 2021 Picture of the Month

A place I have been meaning to visit for several years is Lion Salt Works near Northwich in Cheshire. Plans to go up and see the preserved saltworks had to be put on hold back in 2018 due to ill health – and then came the pandemic – but we finally made it in August this year, and what a fascinating place it is. A century ago, there were salt works all over this part of Cheshire, but the Lion Works is the only one open to the public and is a unique insight into the challenging working conditions in this essential industry. Lion Salt was once exported to Africa in huge quantities. Some of the county's rock salt was 'deep mined' while other saltworks, like Lion, used steam pumps to raise vast quantities of salt-rich brine from deep underground lakes which was then evaporated in huge heated pans on site. This image shows the spectacular recreation of the 'evaporation' process in Salt Pan No.3 while an audio-visual presentation telling the story of Cherhsire's salt industry is projected on to the walls and roof of the building. I am currently preparing an article on Lion Salt Works for future publication in Vintage Spirit magazine.  Taken with my Canon 5D MkIV, 24mm lens.