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Salt Stream at Droitwich.

South of Droitwich.

The Droitwich Salt Stream
As the earth was being formed land masses moved and were covered by the sea. The British Isles emerged after a long inundation when climate change evaporated the water. A large crescent shaped block of salt stretching from Wells in Somerset, up through Bristol , the Midlands into Cheshire and containing millions of tons of the hard mineral was covered by glacial deposits. Where these were shallow, as in Droitwich , underground brine streams reached the surface and still continually erode away the salt causing land movement and subsidence.
When the brine industry was actively pumping for salt production there was considerable movement and Droitwich buildings regularly collapsed. Although closure of the Worcestershire Industry has considerably reduced movement it still occurs along the line of the Brine streams as recorded by Johnson Poole and Bloomer Ltd of Dudley in their reports.
Clearly visible south of Droitwich and north of Upton Warren the fascinating shapes created are visible.
South of Pulley Lane, near the Copcut Elm pub I have recorded some of this land movement.

Salt Lake.

The large brine filled lake, known as a Flash, is surrounded with Norfolk Reeds but hides a deadly secret.Totally submerged is a large timber framed Manor House which sank in the 19th Century without trace but is no doubt perfectly preserved.
Great care should be exercised when walking in this area as holes can open up at any time. The local farmer told us about cows he had lost, and one remarkable story about a cow that was missing for several days and was then recovered from a hole where it had survived on the grass which had fallen with it. Max