History of Northwich
The first references to Northwich are during Roman times when the town was known as Condate, thought to be a Latinized form of a Brittonic name meaning "Confluence".
There are several other places by this name, mostly in France; in Northwich's case, it lies near the junction of the rivers Dane and Weaver.
Again this document refers to Condate between the entries for Salinae (now Middlewich, Cheshire) and Ratae (now Leicester, Leicestershire), at the time the capital of the Corieltauvi tribe.
[2] The Roman's interest in the Northwich area is thought to be due to the strategic river crossing and the location of the salt brines.
There is archaeological evidence of a Roman auxiliary fort within the area of Northwich now known as "Castle" dated to 70 AD.
Excavations discovered the remains of barrack blocks and courtyard building thought to be a Praetorium, or commandant's house.
This is considered to have been derived from the Norse, "wic", for bay and is associated with the more traditional method of obtaining salt from evaporating sea water.
Subsequently, Northwich became a royal manor and was given to a noble family to collect tolls in exchange for a set rent.
Between 1642 and 1643, during the English Civil War, Northwich was fortified and garrisoned by Sir William Bereton for the Parliamentarians.
[8] The Smith-Barrys were looking for coal, but instead discovered rock salt, in the grounds of the family home, Marbury Hall, to the north of Northwich.
The Trent and Mersey Canal, opened in 1775, passed to the north of Northwich because of objections from the trustees of the Weaver Navigation.
[8] For example, collapses in 1880 formed Witton Flash as the River Weaver flowed into a huge hole caused by subsidence.
[10] Subsidence also allegedly accounts for many old timber-framed houses in the town centre, which were better able to withstand the movement of the ground.
In 1875 this merged with its much larger neighbour at Witton cum Twambrooks were amalgamanted, and the resultant area was further extended in 1880 to include the whole of Castle Northwich and parts of Hartford, Winnington and Leftwich.
[11] Further expansion took place in 1936 by the addition of parts of Winnington, Lostock Gralam, Barnton, Leftwich and Rudheath, and again in 1955 when parts of Davenham, Hartford, Rudheath and Whatcroft were added [12] Railways first came to the town in 1863 when the line from Manchester Central was extended from Knutsford by the Cheshire Midland Railway.
In 1987 more land was reclaimed to form Furey Wood and over later years, Cheshire County Council's Land Regeneration Unit reclaimed what is now known as Anderton Nature Park, Witton Flash, Dairy House Meadows, Witton Mill Meadows, and Ashton's and Neumann's Flashes.
[8] In February 2004 a £28 million programme to stabilise the abandoned salt mines underneath Northwich was begun.
[15] The work was funded by the English Partnerships through its Land Stabilisation Programme, introduced to resolve issues associated with unstable mines around England.
The current stabilisation plan involves removing millions of litres of brine from the four mines and replacing it with a mixture of pulverised fuel ash (PFA), cement and salt.
The grout is mixed at Brunner Mond, Winnington from where it is pumped via a pipeline into the mines through a series of boreholes around the town.
The removed brine is pumped in the opposite direction to Winnington and then taken by train to British Salt in Middlewich.
