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Rutland's saltways There are a surprising number of place-names in Leicestershire which reveal mostly-forgotten salt ways. 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. A Roman road which runs along the Belvoir ridge (a.k.a. Harby Hills) is still known as the Salters Way. From Grantham to the east coast this is now the A52. Similarly a prehistoric trackway from Leicester to Uppingham, passing through an important Iron Age 'central place' at Billesdon, evolved into the A47. Beyond Uppingham the medieval route continued to Peterborough, then at the edge of the Fens. 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. Place-name evidence reveals that a route from Leicester to Stamford, via Keyham and Oakham, was once a saltway. Barrie Cox's book The Place-names of Rutland reveals more saltway names in the parishes of Riddlington, Preston, Wing, Pilton, Luffenham and Ketton. This suggests a saltway closely parallel to the A47 but bypassing Uppingham. To the east this route passes through North Luffenham (but seemingly no place-name evidence has survived) then from Ketton it continues to Stamford via Tinwell. Oral history collected in the early 1970s states that the Ashwell to Oakham road was once known as 'Salters Ford Lane'. There are two watercourses along that road so this makes some sense. The ford was on the stream that discharged into the canal. However unlike most saltways, which are east-west, this lane runs north-south. But I suspect the salt merchants would have come to Oakham first and then on to Ashwell. Woolways one way and saltways the other way These routes from the midlands to the east coast ports were important during the heyday of the medieval wool trade between roughly 1250 and 1350. Every year up to 45,000 woolsacks had to be taken to 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. 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. When saltways were sacred ways 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. Why do we still call them saltways? 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. I have previously written about the saltways in the Vale of Belvoir. 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. Back to top of this page     Back to home page   This website does not gather or store any visitor information. Copyright Bob Trubshaw 2026 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/rutland

Rutland's history home page what's new? glossary bibliography Rutland's geology Rutland's boundaries Rutland's rivers long, long ago prehistoric Rutland Roman Rutland long ago Anglo-Saxon Rutland Rutland's place-names waterborne transport around the sixth century Rutland's early churches Anglo-Saxon sculpture in Rutland The Matter of Rutland what the Normans did for Rutland Romanesque sculpture in Rutland Rutland's royal forests Rutland in medieval times Rutland's scratch dials Rutland's medieval carvings Rutland's sepulchral effigies Rutland's saltways Rutland in Tudor times Dissolution in Rutland not that long ago Rutland in the 17th century pinfolds and pounds in Rutland dovecotes in Rutland Rutland in the 18th century turnpiking Rutland Rutland's springs and wells changes in Rutland's agriculture since 1800 seems like yesterday Rutland's dialect Rutland's folk customs travellers in Rutland watermills and windmills in Rutland breweries in Rutland gasworks in Rutland ironstone quarrying in Rutland Zeppelins over Rutland redundant telephone exchanges in Rutland Second World War in Rutland WWII airfields and pillboxes in Rutland the making of Rutland Water Rutland Weekend Television free online history resources Victoria County History: Rutland volume one Victoria County History: Rutland volume two free PDFs of Rutland Record issues 1 to 50 old OS maps Historic England Listed buildings database Sepulchral Effigies of Leicestershire and Rutland Open Domesday English Place-Name Society database Wikipedia list of places in Rutland (with links to village entries) Wikipedia list of people from Rutland researching and writing local history getting started free advice from 2005 asking curious questions (YouTube video) local history groups in and around Rutland Belton-in-Rutland History Society Cottesmore History and Archaeology Group Langham Village History Group Lyddington Manor History Society Rutland Local History and Record Society with free PDFs of over forty issues of the Rutland Record Uppingham Local History Study Group 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? Vale of Belvoir Chronicle Barrowby Until Now website