The magazine of the art-form of the photo-essay
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Stephen Fry. British actor, writer and film & documentary maker
Mar 2016 back issue
by Damian Bird
Winsford Rock Salt Mine, Cheshire, England. February 2016.
Salt beds were formed back in the Triassic period, when the UK was still attached to Europe. The combination of
inland seas and desert envrionments led to a slow evaporation over many millions of years, resulting in the formation of
salt beds which lie under Cheshire and the surrounding areas. Although the salt bed is fragmented it can be found from
Carrick Fergus, Northern Ireland, under the Irish Sea, reappearing in central England. It then dips under the North Sea,
with the final part of the salt bed lying across Europe.
Towns around Winsford like: Northwich, Middlewich and Nantwich, all take their names from salt production with ‘Wych’
often meaning ‘brine town’. Salt was first found in Northwich in 1670 and in Winsford in 1844. Two shafts were installed
at Winsford, with miners being lowered into the shafts by bucket.
In 1928 the last mine in Northwich was flooded which resulted in the rapid expansion of Winsford Mine.
Today the mine consists of three shafts and is claimed by its operator, Compass Minerals Ltd, to be ‘Britain's oldest
working mine’.
Winsford salt miner.
The face, where salt is cut by this mining machine.
The mining machine’s tungsten carbide cutting teeth have to be unscrewed and replaced when they wear down.
After every cut, the mining machine is examined.
Tungsten carbide cutting teeth being inspected.
The miner’s head torch picks up the salt dust in the air.
The face scored by the teeth of the mining machine.
The mining machine is operated by a hand-held radio-controlled unit.
Conveyor belt taking freshly mined rocksalt for processing.
Vast powerful loaders are used to move salt around within the mine. These vehicles are too large to be taken down
whole and therefore assembled within the mine from components ferried down in the lifts.
The view from inside the cab of the mine based super-loader carrying salt in the front bucket.
Loader drivers have to concentrate extremely hard when driving in the mine.
Rocksalt super-loader.
Underground salt processing plant.
Plugged mineshaft where the original miners were lowered into the mine in a bucket.
The underground roads in the mine are made solid with saltcrete which is made from a mixture of rocksalt and
concrete.
Work being done to the ceiling of the mine.
1940s electic tractor digger left to rot in Winsford salt mine. No vehicles are ever removed from the mine when the
cease service.
Miners leaving the mine by lift, bound for the surface.
