{"id":3155,"date":"2026-08-13T15:24:35","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T14:24:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/?p=3155"},"modified":"2026-08-13T15:24:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T14:24:38","slug":"salt-on-the-solway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/13\/salt-on-the-solway\/","title":{"rendered":"Salt on the Solway"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Salt on the Solway<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the post on the Floriston smugglers<\/a>, I told how, in 1822, Revenue men confronted five presumed smugglers carrying packages they thought to be Scottish salt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But of course, extracting salt from sea water was an occupation carried out in coastal areas around the whole of the British Isles, including Cumbria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Records in Carlisle Archives<\/a> include \u00a0someone\u2019s \u2018Remembrances at Longcroft,\u2019 written in 1589.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Longcroft<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Longcroft, if you don\u2019t know the area, is a little hamlet based around a farm and house of that name and \u2013 if Wikipedia is correct \u2013 today comprises a total of just five houses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is, as someone else puts it, \u2018hidden between Kirkbride and Anthorn\u2019, and was bigger in the past: there are 12 distinct entries at Longcroft on the 1851 census, for instance, plus a 13th that was uninhabited at that time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Longcroft Farm itself is Grade II Listed, and Historic England<\/a> has a photo that shows an archetypal Cumbrian farmhouse, \u2018with painted flush quoins,\u2019 dating from the late 18th\/early 19th centuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A comment on the Listing says:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018In 1811 the Farm was called Longcroft Farm and was occupied by William and Mary Clark.<\/strong> Following their deaths the farm was bequeathed to Daniel Clark the eldest son who was a Grocer and plyed his business in Kirkbride.<\/em>\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My old notes for the place say that the farm seems to have been let in 1837 to James Atkinson. In 1851, he was farming 280 acres there (likely including a lot of common land and \u2018moss\u2019).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another family who were for sure at Longcroft were the Pattinsons, who in 1841 were \u2018next door\u2019 to James Atkinson<\/strong>, with head of the family John Pattinson described as a farmer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pattinson family had had \u2018a house and garth\u2019 there since at least 1756.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The present farm is presumably a relatively recent rebuild.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 1677\/78 tenants list has ten names on it, with five of them living in cottages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salt on the Solway<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Going back to the topic of salt on the Solway (!): in 1589, there were two \u2018salt coats\u2019:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u2018or two little houses where they make salt, one of them being in the occupation of John Woolson <\/strong>which standeth upon the Earl\u2019s land, and the other upon a freeholder\u2019s land.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The report\u2019s only interest was in revenue for \u2018the Earl\u2019 (whoever that was at the time):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u2018Woolson sayeth when he keepeth the coates working that year he payeth to the Bailiff of Burgh 12 perks of salt it being worth about 12\/-.\u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Woolson also paid about 13s 4d a year for the turf and peat he used to make the salt. While the freeholder only had to pay for the turf and peat (which was from \u2018the lord\u2019s mosses\u2019). This unnamed person also paid \u2018about 13s 4d\u2019 a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Salt on the Solway also came from four salt coats \u2018on the other side of the water,\u2019 out of the barony of Burgh. But they still paid approximately 12s to 13s 4d for turf and peat from the mosses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Salt on the Solway In the post on the Floriston smugglers, I told how, in 1822, Revenue men confronted five presumed smugglers carrying packages they thought to be Scottish salt. But of course, extracting salt from sea water was an occupation carried out in coastal areas around the whole of the British Isles, including Cumbria. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[267],"tags":[488,487],"class_list":["post-3155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food-drink","tag-burgh","tag-longcroft"],"yoast_head":"\nSalt on the Solway - Cumbrian Characters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Salt on the Solway \u2013 a post about the Cumbrian hamlet of Longcroft and how salt was being produced there in 1569\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/crimesofthecenturies.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/13\/salt-on-the-solway\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Salt on the Solway - 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