Description and History of Site:-

Today the only surviving relic of the Cleveland Salt Works is the decorative redbrick southern boundary wall built in 1887. It is now a protected monument and consists of four separate sections. At the west end there is a section with columns at each side, containing a blocked central arched doorway flanked by two blocked windows. Of the other four sections of wall, three have oval piercings to allow ventilation of the evaporating pans and would have been sidewalls, they are not in their original position but were re-located in 1982.
Nearby at NZ 50432 20877 a borehole was sunk by Bolckow, Vaughan & Co, that revealed in 1862 the presence of a 30m thick bed of halite (rock salt) at a depth of 366m. This was not exploited for 24 years until a method of solution mining had been developed. The Cleveland Salt Company was incorporated a year later, on 11 October 1887, to take over from Bolckow, Vaughan & Co. It ceased trading in 1947 after producing 878,872 tons of salt by evaporating the brine pumped up from the salt bed.

Further Reading and References:-

Tomlin, D M. The salt industry of the River Tees. de Archaeologische Pers, Holland, 1982.
Harrison, J H. The industrial heart of old Middlesbrough. Research Report No. 10, Cleveland Industrial Archaeological Society, 2010.

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Key Words :- boundary wall main gate salt

Viewing the Site :- Alongside public road

Address :- Vulcan Street, Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, TS2 1PP
Grid Ref :- NZ 49930 21112
Co-ordinates :- Lat 54.582752 , Long -1.228986
Local Authority :- Middlesbrough Borough Council
Pre 1974 County :- Yorkshire - North Riding
Site Status :- Listed - Grade II
Historic England List No - 1312365,
Site Condition :- Site conserved and open to the public
Contributor :- Charles Morris - 26 March 2015

Copyright :- cc-by-nc-sa 4.0 © Charles Morris