Editing Droitwich Spa (section)

===Salt and brine===
[[File:Statue to saltworkers.jpg|thumb|''Saltworkers'' by British sculptor [[John McKenna (sculptor)|John McKenna]] in the town centre]]

Rock salt and brine was extracted by the Romans and this continued through to the [[Middle Ages]]. A salt tax was levied by the king until it was abolished in 1825. A local family named Wintour owned up to 25 [[salt evaporation pond|salt evaporating pan]]s in the area by the 1600s.

Brine rose naturally to the surface at three sites along the River Salwarpe within Vines Park in the centre of Droitwich. Unusually the brine was fully saturated with sodium chloride, and was extremely valuable because it was economic to boil, and the yield of salt was high. Because of its value the brine was divided into shares, one share comprising {{Convert|6,912|impgal|l}} which produced {{Convert|8|LT|t|spell=in}} of salt annually in the set boiling period. When it rained, particularly in the winter when brine was not being boiled, the rain water which is less dense than saltwater, settled on top of the brine and was readily removed.

Originally brine for boiling was extracted with buckets lowered into the pits which were naturally replenished. Upwich, the deepest of the three pits at {{Convert|30|ft|m}}, supplied most of the brine, while the pit at Netherwich was only {{Convert|18|ft|m}} deep. The Middlewich pit, located between the two, was adversely affected by brine extraction at the other two pits and fell into disuse. Steynor in the 17th century discovered the pit and set up business for himself, but eventually due to the lack of brine he failed to compete with the town monopoly.

The underground brine reservoirs were only {{Convert|200|ft|m}} deep and in 1725 [[borehole]]s were sunk to the base of the pits, accessing brine in almost unlimited quantities and independent of the natural brine flow, and the monopoly ceased. Pumps were used to draw brine, and production increased. As a result, parts of the town succumbed to subsidence.<ref name="Beatrice Hopkinson">"Salt and the Domesday Salinae at Droitwich, AD 674–1690: A Quantitative Analysis", Droitwich Brine Springs and Archaeological Trust with Worcestershire Archaeological Society (1994)</ref>

In the mid-19th century, Droitwich became famous as a [[spa town]]. Unlike other places, the medicinal benefits were not derived from drinking the spa water, which is almost saturated brine, but from the muscular relief derived from swimming and floating in such a dense, concentrated salt solution, at the town's brine baths (first opened in 1830). The spa water at Droitwich is the [[UK Geothermal Springs|warmest]] in the United Kingdom outside [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]], but it does not meet the most common definition of a [[hot spring]] as the water is below standard human body temperature.

The original Brine Baths have long since closed, but a new brine bath (part of the Droitwich Spa private hospital) opened to the public for relaxation and hydrotherapy but this too was closed in December 2008 due to a dispute between the operator and Wychavon District Council over health and safety inspections.

The salt industry was industrialised and developed in the 19th century by [[John Corbett (industrialist)|John Corbett]] who built the nearby [[Chateau Impney]] for his Franco-Irish wife in the French 'château' style. He was responsible for the redevelopment of Droitwich as a Spa.