Droitwich Spa and around

Given that seawater is salty, it is not surprising to find salt pans by the Atlantic or on the Mediterranean coast. But how has salt been produced in Droitwich since prehistoric times? The answer is simply that the ground is rich in rock salt. The brine from the town’s salt springs is far denser than sea water – 2.5lb of salt could be extracted by boiling a gallon of Droitwich’s brine (about 250g from each litre).

Droitwich was an important Roman crossroads – the suggested map shows that the A38, the B4090 and the minor road to the north, Crutch Lane, all have Roman origins. They had a fort at Dodderhill (just north of Vines Park) and, when the railway was constructed in 1847, two mosaic pavements were stumbled upon. Later archaeological work found a Roman corridor house about 130ft (40m) long. Salt tax was a good earner for the monarch, up until its abolition in 1825. Ownership of 25 salt-evaporating pans contributed to the wealth of the Wintour family, who gained notoriety as participants in the 1605 Gunpowder Plot.

In 1845, when aged 28, John Corbett used capital from the profits of his father’s canal business to buy and update a derelict salt works about 4.5 miles (7.2km) northeast, at Stoke Prior. He did the right thing at the right time. His works, Europe’s largest, made him a fortune, much of which he pumped back into the company, improving working conditions and raising wages (to the extent that wives no longer needed to work), and also into the area, Droitwich Spa in particular. In France, in 1855, he met Anna (or Hannah) O’Meara, who lived in Paris with her French mother and Irish father. Corbett married her the following year. They had six children. Such was her apparent craving for France that he commissioned an architect to build him a French château, Château Impney, completed in 1875 for a staggering £247,000. Despite this, they separated after 28 years of marriage. In 1879 Corbett bought, and vastly improved, St Andrew’s House. He renamed it the Raven Hotel, after the raven on the Corbett family’s coat of arms (from the French le corbeau, meaning raven…which sounds a bit like ‘Corbett’).

To some extent, the use of ice and, later, refrigeration, as a means of preserving meats and other foods contributed to the decline of Droitwich’s salt production, which ceased in 1922. Most recently, in a triumph of shopping over heritage, the Salters’ Shopping Centre has been ‘rebranded’ as St Andrews Square.

Begin outside the library walk west, along Victoria Square and then into Ombersley Street East. When it bends go straight on, passing a medical centre. After an underpass proceed to St Nicholas’ Church. Go beyond the churchyard then right, to take another underpass. Turn left. Take the road over the railway to a roundabout, filtering right to go through a third underpass. Walk for 50yds (46m) to a fence corner, near a lamppost. Turn left, marked ‘Cycleway 45’. In 30yds (27m) turn right. At the bottom of this cul-de-sac, Westmead Close, turn left. Soon take Ledwych Close, on the right. At the canal you are effectively out of Droitwich Spa.

Turn left. At the bridge turn right, passing sports facilities and schools. Turn left just beyond the A38 bridge, into Westwood Way. In 110yds (100m) reach the Westwood House slip road. Facing some allotments, take a gate to the left and walk parallel to the allotments. Beyond this woodland, through a kissing gate, reach a driveway. Cross a truly enormous arable field. Over a track and another driveway, finally reach a corner of Nunnery Wood.

Turn sharply right. Electric fencing shepherds you between paddocks before you veer left to walk briefly through Nunnery Wood. (Ignore tracks left.) Aim for two gates beside trees on the skyline. Keep straight on for 0.5 miles (800m), near the Müller Droitwich plant on the left, then curving left past an industrial estate to reach Doverdale Lane.

Turn right. Just before a ‘30’ speed-limit sign, fork left. Cross the A442. Walk through the hamlet of Hampton Lovett to St Mary’s Church. (It is asymmetrical, having a curved Norman column on its left side.) Take the meadow path under the railway. In 140yds (128m), at a footbridge, bear right, along a field-edge. Keep following this general, waymarked line for over 0.5 miles (800m), walking outside the right edge of the trees beside Highstank Pool. Go forward with hedgerow on your left; when it stops abruptly aim across a large field to clip corner greenery – young evergreens shielding a golf tee.

Keeping the same line, cross a vast field (in fact, just more of the same field!), through a kissing gate, a small new metal gate. Now aim slightly left to another metal gate. Follow the road under the A38 into a housing estate. Go forward, then down for about 150yds (137m), to find a tarmac path running between Nos 49 and 53 (51 is hidden). Go through two kissing gates flanking the level crossing. Turn left to The Gardeners Arms. Here turn right over the River Salwarpe, into Vines Park. Veer left to cross the Droitwich Canal. Cross this busy road and walk down the right side of a supermarket to High Street – in front of you is Spats Coffee House. Turn right, passing Tower Hill, then left into St Andrew’s Street and then back to the start of the walk.