WEEK 6 - Day 22 Views from the Scaffolding

As we prepare to start the dismantling works in Stove House 5 here are some views of the surrounding area from the vantage point of our scaffolding at the top of Stove House 5.

Looking north at Marston Flashes, created in 1928 by the collapse of the Adelaide Rock salt Mine. Lion Salt Works pumped brine into the Brine Tank from brine streams 150 feet below ground. The Adelaide Works mined rock salt from a Bottom bed of rock salt at 300ft.
The Trent and Mersey Canal passes along the front of the Lion Salt Works and was used to bring coal to the works, mainly from collieries in the Stoke-on-Trent area of North Staffordshire
In 1888 the Manchester Guardian described this area as a 'black country' with baked earth and sulphurous black smoke polluting the atmosphere where no trees or grass could grow.


Looking south the distant tower of St Helens Church, Witton can be seen. Between Marston and Witton there were rock salt mines which collapsed causing the road to be diverted. The collapsed mines were used as land fill sites for lime waste from the local chemical works. Ashtons and Neumans Flashes are now landscaped as a Community Woodland with footpaths and cycle ways. This is a great area for bird watching with many wading species and exotics such as black swans, egrets, grebes and last year black legged stilts.


To the south west you can see the chemical works of Brunner Mond which uses brine and salt to make soda ash and sodium bicarbonate. The works is at Winnington, but looks out over the Anderton Lift, which connects the Trent and Mersey Canal to the River weaver. the Lion Salt Works shipped salt by narrow boat along the canal to transfer salt to waiting barges where it was sailed to Liverpool Docks for export overseas.



web links to follow

WEEK 6 - Day 21 Timber Store Completed

We left the site on Thursday of last week with the temporary timber store starting to be erected. On the Friday and Saturday the construction team completed the main erection, leaving only the roller shutter doors and internal lighting to be installed today. Work can start today dismantling Stove House 5.

The scaffolding has been completed around the outside of the building giving access to the external boards at each of the gable ends.
After horrible weather over the week end we have a calm and sunny start to the day, but the forcast for the week is for showers and rain.
The ground surface between the store and Stove House 5 will be cleaned and covered in a membrane and stone giving a firm and clean surface to work from.
The scaffolding is being inserted within Stove House 5 to provide a safe working platform from which to begin dismantling the roof trusses. The work wiill commence on Monday 7 September with the removal of the asbestos sheeting that covers the roof.

This work will be captured on our time lapse camera and posted here and on Youtube.

The removal of the external cladding boards from eth east and west gables was completed today, and scaffoldong was started inside the Stove House rising through the warehouse floor. This will support working platforms below the roof structures and around the trusses from which we will dismantle the timber frame. Watch the work at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSvI97QibJo

WEEK 4 - Day 16 Visit by Henry Lloyd Thompson

The former owner of the Lion Salt Works, Henry Lloyd Thompson visited the site today to see how our restoration works were proceeding.

Henry built Stove House 5 in 1965 and we wanted to show him the plans to dismantle the building and re-erect it on a new foundation. This will preserve the impressive roof construction which was built by a local company from Pickmere, Curbishleys.

Ground works continued to grade and clear the site. Contaminated soil and rubble has been taken from the site to designated landfill sites following our waste management plan. Cement asbestos sheeting from the roof areas has been contained and bagged for safe, controlled removal and disposal.

Scaffolding has been completed up to the eaves on the south and east elevations of Stove House5.
This provides a safe working platform around the walls, but also braces and supports the walls. This will be essential when dismantling begins. The building will begin to loose strength as the roof structure is removed. Follow the dismantling process during Septemember and October.

Background to this blog

The Lion Salt Works is about to begin a programme of restoration costing £7m. We want to tell you how the work is carried out, why it is being done, who is funding it and who are making it happen.
There are links to other web sites, YouTube videos where you can find out more about this important industrial monument, which is protected as a designated Scheduled Monument ...
but this will be a live site, updated weekly, or as things happen.
Because the salt works will become a construction site, access will be limited. In this blog we will take you up close to the work in words, photographs and video to describe how the restoration work is carried out.
Subscribe to the blog to follow the restoration work and see a derelict open pan salt works brought back to life as an industrial museum in the heart of Cheshire.