Milefortlet 21 and The Saltpans
Where are they?
Crosscanonby, near Allonby. GR: NY067401
You can view a
location map.
Links to local transport
and roads information are also available.
Coming from Maryport, follow the signs for Allonby, about a
quarter of a mile before you reach Allonby, there is a car park on
your right and both Milefortlet 21 and the Saltpans are accessible
from this car park.
The site is has a dominant position, with magnificent views over
the Solway, and is accessible at all times. There is a limited
amount of fixed on-site interpretation.
What is Milefortlet 21?
Milefortlet 21 is now the only element of Hadrian's
coastal defences of the northwest frontier (and thus of the Roman
Empire) to have been wholly excavated. The site consists of a
viewing platform over the exposed excavation.
Along Hadrian's wall, at intervals of one-Roman-mile (about
1.5-kilometre). "Milecastles" both provided passageway and housed
the Roman soldiers who protected the frontier and actually
constructed the defences: the estimated 1.3 million cubic meters of
turf and stone which comprise the entire system were moved and
moulded by thousands of Roman troops, not by slaves as was
previously believed. The wall was obviously not enough to
completely keep out invading forces, but was intended to establish
boundaries and maintain order; traders had to use the milecastles
as points of entry, so marketplaces naturally developed in
designated areas. Smaller "Milefortlets," which essentially served
the same purpose as their larger counterparts, guarded the Cumbrian
coast without the added protection of a wall.
The photograph shows the excavated site in 1990/1.
The Excavation
Over two summers in 1990
and 1991, 150 Earthwatch volunteers helped to completely excavate
the fortress. In what amounted to 20 weeks of difficult fieldwork,
teams removed and differentiated many layers of fine sand despite
steady erosion and wind. Through constant cleaning and meticulous
3D-recording, they were able to recover almost 1,000 fragments of
pottery and iron, as well as to reconstruct a model of how the
fortress once looked. This material is now housed at the Senhouse
Roman Museum.
What are the Saltpans?
For nearly 700 years, salt was made from sea water along the
Cumbrian coast. Crosscanonby Salt Pans is the remains of one of the
new generation of salt works, built around 1650 by the Senhouses of
Netherhall. The works appear to have closed 86 years later. Until
1970, the salters' cottages and stables still remained at the
site.
The large, circular, elevated structure is the sleech pit or
kinch. The wall is cobble built with a clay infill. In use, it was
clay-lined and the floor covered with reeds acting as a filter.
Salt laden sand was gathered from the shore in a horse-drawn rake
called a hap.
This material was known as sleech and was carried into the kinch
and piled up. When full, fresh water - or possibly sea water - was
sprinkled over this sleech. The strong salt solution would trickle
down into the brine pit or lagoon (now a sunken garden). When the
concentration was enough to float an egg, the process stopped and
the kinch cleaned out.
The brine was gently boiled in iron pans producing one draught
per day (over a third of a ton). The pans were about 9 feet by 8
feet and up to 8 feet deep. The white of three eggs was introduced
to the lukewarm brine to clear-up any silt as scum - and then
removed. Slow heating produced the desired large crystals of bay
salt. The crystals were collected in wicker baskets or wooden
containers called drabs, and allowed to drain. Certain salts of
lime and magnesia settled in the pan corners. It was called scratch
or catscalp and was used for pigeon food. Cleaning the scratch from
the pans was known as patlin the pans.
In 1698, a salt tax was levied at source and the Salt Officers
for the Cumbrian and Scottish coasts of the Solway Firth were based
at Netherhall, Maryport. One such officer was Mr John Smith who
served for twenty nine years. He died in 1730 and his tomb is in
Crosscanonby churchyard. A panel depicts a Salt Officer at his
desk.
Coal for firing the pans came from the mines at Crosshow near
Dearham, the lime for the pan joints came from Eaglesfield. Certain
wooden structures uncovered by the tide from time-to-time represent
the remains of a pump and water tank scaffold.