St John the Evangelist, Crosscanonby, Cumbria - John Smith, Salt Officer

Record of the death of John Smith, Salt officer, 1730.

 St John the Evangelist at Crosscanonby, Cumbria held an Open Day on Saturday 27 June when some of the church records from the Cumbrian Record Office were made available to be viewed.
With the help of Churchwarden, Anna Bagley, we were able to find the record dated March 17th,, 1730 listing the death of John Smith of Birkby, a customs officer based in the area. A tomb in the graveyard was also erected to John Smith which includes a unique carved stone panel showing him working, at his desk. It is located close to the south door of the church.
The church is well worth a visit by anyone interested in getting close to a specific person directly involved in the local salt industry.
The Church Open Day was also an important event to draw attention to the fundraising that is needed to secure the care and maintenance of the church, which needs conservation work to its roof and stained glass windows.

Tomb of John Smith.
St John the Evangelist, Crosscanonby.

St John the Evangelist
Crosscanonby

Interior, St John the Evangelist, Crosscanonby.

Close to the church are the remains of a sea salt works. In the mid-1980s, the significance of the surviving Croscanonby salt pans was realised leading to the redevelopment of the historical monument. Between 1997 and 1998, major works were carried out to protect the salt pans from the threat of coastal erosion having realised that one or two more tides could result in the loss of the Salt pans forever.
 In order to protect the Salt pans, emergency work included building a wooden palisade around the most affected part of the site. Over 2,000 tonnes of material from nearby Crosscanonby Carr nature reserve were used in the process. Today, the site remains intact, although under constant threat from the tides.
Links
Wikipedia
Visit Cumbria
Croscannonby CofE Primary School

Natural Sea Salt from Rock Pool on Anglesey

Sea salt harvested today from a small rock pool in the north coast of Anglesey at Cemlyn, near Cemaes Bay.
The pool is above the high tide level and has evaporated greatly over the last few days, even with moderate day time temperatures of 14-18 degrees C. But no rainfall and no dilution from fresh sea water.

ERIH Meeting 10 June

Andrew Fielding gave a presentation about the Ecosal-UK Salt Network and possible links to the ERIH Themed Salt Route at the latest regional meeting organised by Jonathan Lloyd.
Hildebrand de Boer gave a presentation about the ERIH Regional Route based in Amsterdam.
The meeting took place at the Bursledon Brickworks Industrial Museum, Southampton an Anchor Point on the European Route of Industrial Heritage.

Jonathan Lloyd and Hildebrand de Boer members of ERIH
speaking at the meeting held at Bursledon Brickworks, Southampton
10 June, 2015. 

Brine in Britannia Now Available to Download

Mike Nevell has made the CBA NW publication 'Brine in Britannia' available to download.
Published in 2005.

Headland to Headspace - Salt Talk 3 October

Andrew and Annelise will be giving a talk about salt making to the Headland 2 Headspace group who are investigating the heritage of Morecambe Bay.
The talk will take place at Gaskell Memorial Hall, Silverdale. Starts at 2pm.
Title of talk - 'Separating the Salt from the Sand in Morecambe Bay'

ERIH meeting -10 June

Andrew will be giving a short talk about the UK Salt Network to the regional meeting of the European Route of Industrial Heritage on Wednesday, 10 June at Burseldon Brick Works museum, Southampton.