WEEK 11 - Day 43 Salt Pan 5, Laserscan and Pan House-Warehouse 4

The team is rapidly dismantling the Stove House 5 and preparing to lift the salt pan off the furnace so that it can be shot blasted and given a protective paint. H&E Scaffolding are now taking down scaffolding and removing it from site, so we can really see that the contract is getting close to completion.



A magnetic drill was used to drill the holes in the lifting beams below Pan 5. This type of drill clamps itself to the iron beam by an induction magnet so that the steel can be drilled. Galvanised bolts were then tightened to clamp the two girders together. Wooden packing pieces will be inserted between the girders and the underside of the pan in preparation for lifting the pan off the furnace base on Tuesday, next week.

APR services returned today to fill in gaps in the laser scan survey. Parts of the stove house areas of Stove House 1 and Stove House 2 were inaccessible when the main scan was carried out earlier in the work programme.

Decayed floor beams, and the collapsed roof structures which had fallen on top of it have now been removed and props inserted below the floor beams. This is one of the older areas of the Lion Salt Works dating to about 1894.
Walkways (left) have been inserted from the Loading Bay / Packing Area to provide safe access for the architects and engineers to prepare the Phase 2 schedule of works and cost plan, prior to going out to tender for the main restoration work.
Moving south from the Packing Area you move into Warehouse 4 which has a huge crushing mill (right) used to convert dried blocks of salt back to loose crystal salt and pack them into sacks.

Moving past the crushing mill to the south end of Warehouse 4 (left) you can see that this warehouse is unusual in having an iron frame. The floor has the same hatches used to 'loft' salt from Stove 4 on the floor below. From the end of this warehouse you can look down into Pan 4 (right). Pan House 4 was built by Alan Thompson.

WEEK 11 - Day 42 Preparing Pan 5 for Lifting and Warehouse 1

All the steel girders were inserted beneath Pan 5 by mid morning today. These now need to have packing inserted between the top of the girders and the underside of the pan so that the pan is fully supported when it is lifted and moved.

The lifting beams will be bolted together tomorrow ready for the lift to take place early next week.

Preparatory work was completed for a final piece of laser scanning to capture data within the drying area of the earliest building on site. This is the remains of Warehouse and Stove House 1, built in the 1890's but heavily altered as other salt houses were added. The structure was heavily cut away as Stove House 2 and 3 were added to its north and south elevations.
The brick flues have been robbed out, cast iron column which should support the floor above have been lost, corroded away or have collapsed and half the roof had fallen in allowing the weather to decay a lot of the floor boards. having said all that the roof trusses are in good condition and can be incorporated into the restoration works of Phase 2. This area gives you that 'stepping back in time' feeling as you absorb the atmosphere of standing inside a Victorian salt works, and you can see how the stove house we are currently dismantling has been built in the same traditional way, to the same design - to do the same job of evaporating brine and making white salt crystals.

Some of the trusses have carpenters marks. This one is numbered 'I I' for the second truss - but is in the middle of the roof structure. So, either the frames were put up out of sequence, or the frames might have been recycled from an earlier building. Other trusses are numbered 'V' and IV'. Where a brace has been

inserted a small cross '+' has been cut unto the upright beam to indicate where it was to be positioned.

The end gable, which will be dismantled as part of our Enabling Works, has remains of lime wash on the inner surface. All the brickwork and timbers were lime washed to protect them from the salt and stop loose flakes of brick or timber from contaminating the stock piles.

Ironwork has not survived well, particularly in areas which have been damp, or wet from ingress of rain. However in this area one hatch cover still survives with its original iron ring.

WEEK 11 - Day 41 Inserting Lifting Beams Below Pan 5

The end girders were introduced below the east and west ends of Salt Pan 5 this morning. These rest on the two lifting girders put in place on the north and south sides of the pan yesterday.

These cross beams will support each end of the pan and stop it collapsing as the internal flue walls are taken so that the other steel beams can be inserted to spread the weight.

Today was the first wet day for weeks and added to the difficulty of inserting the beams.

WEEK 11 - Day 40 Preparing Pan 5 and Recording Stove 5 Flues

The two long 'I' beams were installed today along the north and south sides of the salt pan No.5. Each beam weighs one ton. Five lighter 'I' beams will be inserted underneath the pan and will be clamped to each of these lifting beams. The pan base is buckled through use and will have packing pieces inserted between the steels and the under surface so that the weight is carried evenly. Only when we are sure the pan can be carried safely will it be lifted. This might be later this week, or early next week, so keep logging on to see developments.

With the east gable dismantled and the brick wall removed from below it we can see how the stove area is constructed. Hot gases from below the salt pan are drawn along flues within the Stove House to dry the salt. The lower part of the flue is set within ash and cinders, lined with brick but due to the heat and fumes the bricks are very badly corroded and decayed. Many bricks have turned to powder, some are heavily impregnated with white salt crystals. The flues are carried above the ash and cinders with brick upstands to create 'ditches' between the flues. There has been a build up of salt within the ditches which is over 20 centimeters thick.
A bag wall slows the passage of gases as they pass from the the pan house into the flue system. There is a thick layer of fly ash throughout the whole structure.
Metal plates sit over the flues so that salt blocks can be placed directly over them. These metal plates have corroded heavily after twenty years in a now cold, damp unheated building covered in salt.

The inner surface of the flues have suffered the most and with e mortar having broken down many walls have simply collapsed into the ditches and flues.

Most of the dismantled timbers have now been assigned racking space within the timber store and are being graded for condition and re-use when the structure is rebuilt. Some pencil marks were seen when the trusses were dismantled, but today we found some carpenters marks cut into a beam which had been re-used as a supporting joist within the Loading Bay. There are carpenters marks in other re-used timbers in Stove House 3.