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Salt pans
Hartley
Pans
was the old name for Seaton Sluice, a name derived from the staple industry
of salt making. Salt was produced at the mouth of the Seaton Burn as
far back as 1236; sea water was evaporated in huge pans, heated by coal
fires. The coal was gathered, open-cast fashion, between the Crag Point
and Bates Hill, although it appears that in later years mined coal was
used. At this time, the salt was dried and then carried in wains to
Blyth to be transported to other parts of the country, and it wasn't until
1550 that salt was shipped from Hartley Haven. This chiefly went to
Yarmouth and Hull, where it was used in the curing of herrings. During Queen
Elizabeth's reign there were eight pans, each producing two tons of salt
a week; the market price was thirty shillings a ton. Sir John Delaval's
pans were mentioned in a book written by Dr. Wm. Bullien, published in London
in 1564, and from another journal of that period, we learn that Hartley salt
was "esteemed by sutche as buye same to be better than any other white
salt". The salt
trade continued to flourish for many years, and it wasn't until 1782 that
real trouble came to the industry. A tax was levied at sevenpence a
bushel, and officers of the excise were placed at Flodden to stop salt going
over the border into Scotland. This did the salt trade a lot of harm,
and was the beginning for a black-market in salt. Many tales
are told of local smuggling, how the good wives of Hartley Pans
contrived to smuggle half a stone of salt into Newcastle and provided they
were successful, they could trade the salt for enough groceries to last a
week. The year 1798 saw the end of the shipping of white salt from
Hartley. The Government issued an order in which they forbade the
making of white salt and foul salt (alkali) in the same place or pans.
The pans at Hartley were too old to change over to new methods, so the
marketing of white salt came to an end. Salt
continued to be manufactured for a few more years, but this was all used in
the Glass
Houses. The pans were fully closed down in 1820, and no
trace of them now remain. They were situated on the right bank of the river,
east of the main road bridge, and the salt drying houses were on Rocky
Island, which at that time was known as the "Pans Close". |
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