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Saltways of the Vale The Salters Way. When discussing Roman roads I mentioned that the road along the Belvoir ridge is still known as the Salters Way. From Grantham to the east coast this is now the A52. And the A52 from Grantham to Nottingham, effectively bisecting the Vale, was almost certainly once a salt way too. Other A-roads have similar origins. For example the A47 from Leicester to Uppingham started out as a medieval route to Peterborough, then at the edge of the Fens, so would have been used by carriers bringing back salt. Historians know that a different Fenland church, Croyland Abbey, generated most of its income from salt-making so presumably Peterborough Abbey (later Cathedral) did too. In various villages in east Leicestershire there are old field names which reveal now-unremembered salt ways. The necessary study of old Nottinghamshire field names has not been completed so I can't provide such examples for the Vale. This map shows the evidence for saltways in north-east Leicestershire. John Lacey has published information about ancient trails and salt ways in south Leicestershire. Stuart Evans has published information about the Leicestershire to Lincolnshire saltway and discusses its possible Iron Age origins. Why so many so close together? Part of the answer is that they originate before hedged fields were normal. Almost certainly they were Neolithic transhumance routes between woodland managed for winter pasture and summer grazing on plants growing in brackish water. Why brackish? Because animals, cows especially, need salt. When I was young and cattle spent most of their lives in fields then 'salt licks' were in those fields. Now livestock are kept in barns and fed pelletised fodder which contains enough salt to keep them healthy. Transhumance continued throughout the prehistoric period but Roman farmers seem to have reduced the distances over which animals needed to be moved. And, as everyone knows, the origin of the English word 'salary' is from Latin salarium, a soldier's allowance for the purchase of salt. In the Mediterranean it is easy to evaporate brine and produce salt. The Romans must have shipped large quantities of salt around their Empire. Quite how salt was transported between the sixth and eleventh centuries is not clear. Initially it would have been by boat but as salt is soluble and has a high value for its weight then packhorses or wagons would be an option. What we do know is that throughout England the medieval wool trade reached its peak between roughly 1250 and 1350. Every year up to 45,000 woolsacks had to be taken to east coast ports such as Boston and Bishop’s Lynn – as King’s Lynn was known until 1537 – and shipped to the Continent for spinning and weaving. Much of the wool was produced in the East Midlands with the Vale no doubt being important. Back in the medieval period other people also travelled along the routes used by the wool wagons. They weren’t doing it to make a profit. But for the good of their souls. They were pilgrims heading for Walsingham, one of the leading pilgrimage destinations in England until the Dissolution. Pilgrimage came to a sudden end in the 1530s once Henry VIII instigated the Dissolution of the monasteries. A Sawgate Lane runs east-west south of Melton Mowbray. 'Sawgate' is a corruption of 'salt gate' with 'gate' having the Scandinavian sense of a road. One of the farms alongside Sawgate Lane is still known as Holy Gate Farm, which gives a clear indication that Sawgate was also known as Holy Gate. Having arrived at the East Anglian coast and sold all the woolsacks to those sailing the North Sea the jaggers and waggoners would have money to buy a return load to make a further profit. Salt was required in large quantities for animal husbandry, cheese making, salting meat, tanning hides and so forth. In the 1350s sheep diseases became epidemic and the wool trade dropped off sharply. But salt was still in demand. But now the carriers had to devise a different eastward load. In this video I explain how we know that the Salter's Way along the Belvoir ridge was used to transport slate in the early eighteenth century. The slate came from quarries in Charnwood Forest and was sold to stone merchants near the Salter's Way or to merchants in Grantham. The carriers then bought malt in Grantham and took it towards the east coast where it was needed in large quantities to provide ale for the armies of navvies draining the Fens. Two changes in the 1840s made the saltways redundant. Salt began to be mined in Cheshire. This was considerably cheaper than evaporating brine. And the early railways joined up into a network allowing Cheshire salt to be easily transported around the country. The names of the routeways became fossilised as 'salt ways' around the 1880s when Ordnance Survey teams went to some length to establish local names for roads and, well, everything that is named on a large-scale OS map. Back to top of this page     Back to home page   This website does not gather or store any visitor information. Copyright Bob Trubshaw 2025 No unauthorised copying or reproduction except if all following conditions apply: a: Copy is complete (including this copyright statement). b: No changes are made. c: No charge is made. www.hoap.co.uk/chronicle

Chronicle entries home page what's new? the geology of the Vale the boundaries and rivers of the Vale long, long ago prehistory in the Vale prehistoric boundaries in the Vale north-south prehistoric routeways Romans roads in the Vale Roman settlements in and near the Vale long ago introduction to Anglo-Saxons place-names of the Vale waterborne transport around the sixth century Orston's early church Anglo-Saxon sculpture in the Vale why Orston lost out to Bingham and Bottesford what the Normans did for the Vale Granby's importance in 1086 Granby's lost castle the Vale's watermills in 1086 Romanesque sculpture in the Vale St Remigius why Bottesford is in Leicestershire the Vale in medieval times medieval gargoyles of the Vale Eastwell's chancel screen St Ethelburga's church other early saints Elston's old chapel Muston and Long Clawson saltways of the Vale the Vale's medieval tile collection the Vale in Tudor times Dissolution in the Vale not that long ago the Vale in the C17th the 'great and the good' of the Vale Bottesford's effigies 'wicked practice and sorcerye' the whales on the Whalley memorial Car Colston's bigoted GP cum JP the Vale's very own regicide Wiverton Hall five rare C17th fonts in the Vale pinfolds and pounds in the Vale dovecotes in the Vale the Vale in the C18th turnpiking the Vale gravestones and C18th trade routes goodbye 'Belvoir Angels' C18th gravestone carvers in the Vale Daffy's Elixir the Marquess of Granby Stilton from the Vale springs and spas of the Vale outstanding organs in the Vale Grantham canal changes in the Vale's agriculture since 1800 Eastwell's recusant priest house and chapel Colston Bassett's ruined church seems like yesterday windmills in the Vale stained glass in the Vale village life in the southern Vale 1850 to 1880 folklore of the Vale Flintham museum lacemaking in the Vale gypsum pits in the Vale brick and tile works in the Vale ironstone quarrying in the Vale ironstone railways ironstone quarries of Leicestershire (YouTube video) The Vale's railway stations Orston's famous architect Mothers Union banners of the Vale redundant telephone exchanges in the Vale WWII airfields and pillboxes in the Vale the Vale in 1944 location shooting at Belvoir Castle Screveton's giants researching and writing local history the Vale as a verb getting started free advice from 2005 asking curious questions (YouTube video) local history groups in and around the Vale Aslockton (Cranmer LHG) Bingham Heritage Trails Association Bottesford Eastwell Harby Harlaxton Hickling Redmile archive Belvoir Villages History and Memories Group Belvoir Angel Society Grantham Canal Society you may also be interested in free PDFs written by Bob Trubshaw Earliest Churches in Nottinghamshire How Anglo-Saxons Found Their Way Anglo-Saxon Leicestershire Conversations in Churchyards Little-known Leicestershire and Rutland Bob Trubshaw's YouTube channel Introduction to medieval carvings Anglo-Saxon and Romanesque carvings How Anglo-Saxons found their way Anglo-Saxon shrines at fords Meetings at triangles Rota's Land and Franni's Land Reading Romanesque fonts Church and manor The significances of square headdresses Early churches and waterborne trade Charnwood slate gravestones and C18th trade routes Ironstone quarries of Leicestershire Roman roads in north-east Leicestershire Salt ways in Leicestershire Why Melton Mowbray needed to called 'middle town' Evolving Anglo-Saxon agriculture Nottinghamshire's earliest churches Ploughs not piety? Economic regeneration in the C7th Were Anglo-Saxon weaving huts women-only places? Barrowby Until Now website Rutland Village by Village website Sepulchral Effigies of Leicestershire and Rutland