Here's another post catching up on some of our late spring adventures with an industrial archaeology theme. It's about a site called Murgatroyd's Brine Pump in Middlewich, hidden away in a small industrial estate not far from the three locks and the dry dock where Uppie the narrowboat's hull was blacked last time.
Huddlesford Bear and I went with Polar, after we had been to the Trent and Mersey Canal Society's AGM, which was early in May. Grizzly and Hanley couldn't come with us because there was a Stoke City home game and they were there instead. Huddlesford and I wore our boaters belts made by Mrs Ann and smart jumpers as it was an important occasion.
We decided our humans should join the T&M Society and so Polar did, although she didn't buy any of the hats or shirts for supporters for herself or Grizzly, and there were no bear-sized items.
After the meeting, the humans made their way across the road and along a path beside some units, and suddenly we were in the Brine Pump site. The restoration work had only been completed quite recently and there had not been many open days because of the nasty virus, so we were very lucky to have a private visit.The site was important because the brine stream found there had been a huge boost to the town's salt industry and the development of a local chemical industry. We were amazed to learn that the underground stream was found by humans digging a narrow shaft, with shovels, at least 100m into the ground!
The workers doing the digging were lowered down in a canvass sling which was turned round and round so they didn't know which direction they were facing when they struck the "brine run", so rival companies couldn't sink shafts upstream of Mr Murgatroyd's well.
Outside there are lots of items from the salt industry, most of them very good for small bears to climb on. There are tools and trolleys, plus the corner of one of the big evaporating pans. Huddlesford is looking at a mould for making blocks of salt.
The engines at the site aren't steam - they were electric ones which replaced the old steam pump in the 1930s. Huddlesford and I looked at them and both of us thought what a shame it was that our pal Hanley Bear, who loves sciences and engineering, wasn't there to see them - but soon he was!
There was an open weekend just a fortnight later, so Polar took Grizzly and Hanley back to look around.
At the public open day he found extra things to look at, especially activities for any small human cub visitors. Hanley started by reading about the history of the brine pump - including the sad story of poor Mr Murgatroyd, who poisoned himself - before looking at some samples of rock salt.
He was thinking about doing some colouring and puzzles, to see if they were as much fun as they looked, when Grizzly said it was time to look at the engine.
On the way, he had a look at some of the other artifacts from the salt and chemical industry that they have at the site. Hanley was very interested in how brine was passed through electrical cells to collect different gases and minerals.
And he loved the engines. He was sad that they don't work any more, but brine extraction from runs was stopped in the 1970s to stop the subsidence that tended to happen as a result.
Being a bear, Hanley could smell the salt from the shaft, under the little grill just behind him and to the left in the left-hand picture below. You can see some of the disconnected electrics in the other picture - Grizzly said he thought it might be a "DC" system, hence the really big cables.
There were a few pieces of the original pumping gear on display, so Hanley Bear went to have at those. Then Polar lifted him into the Bear Bag and took him for a run outside where there are some wild flowers for the bees and butterflies!
Hanley was glad he hadn't missed his chance to visit. The site is open about once a month and you can find the dates and more about it by following the link below.
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