Salt making at Willow Tree Fen

A salt making site dating back 2,000 years on the outskirts of Bourne has been excavated by archaeologists. The two week-dig at Willow Tree Fen took place during the late summer of 2011 when pottery, hair pins and tools were unearthed.

Willow Tree Fen is situated south of the River Glen near Tongue End, three miles from Bourne, and is linked to the last remnants of the wild fenlands of Lincolnshire.

The full story of salt production during that period has also been pieced together by experts who were invited to carry out excavations prior to the site being turned into a new nature reserve by Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust who purchased the land in 2009 and work has been ongoing ever since. It was formerly arable land used for growing beans and cereals but contains a number of low depressions that become waterlogged during spells of wet weather.

The experts have stressed that 2.000 years ago, the fens would have looked very different from today with tidal creeks running far inland. "As a result, salt making was fairly common on a small scale on the Lincolnshire coast", explained Dale Trimble, project manager at the site. "Each village community might be going out on to the salt marsh and making a bit of their own."

Seawater would have been collected in ceramic pans and boiled, leaving behind the salt and members of the community who settled on the site in 25AD would have used it in their diet, for preserving meat and for trading for food and goods.

In January 2010, over 120 visitors helped a team from Lincolnshire's Archaeological Project Services carry out a geophysical survey, field walk the site, auger test deposits and dig test pits. Four trenches were dug crossing the site of a Roman drainage ditch and the field walking yielded two salt-making sites from the Iron Age or Roman periods and a selection of Roman domestic property. Consultants Andrew and Annelise Fielding made a prehistoric kiln and demonstrated open pan salt making reflecting the use of the site in the Roman period.

Remnants of the salt making process found at the dig at Willow Tree Fen will be analysed before being given to a local museum and the site will now become part of a 280-acre nature reserve attracting a wide variety of flora and fauna including wading birds and dragonflies. This will involve restoring a typical wet fenland landscape and once established, the reserve will include a mixture of reed beds, shallow meres, seasonally flooded pastures and hay meadows and providing habitats for rare and threatened wetland species such as otter, water vole, hairy dragonfly, spined loach, redshank, snipe and marsh harrier.

Marcus Craythorne of the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust said: "My primary concern is what is happening on the surface, establishing the grassland habitat to bring in the wildlife. But to go down just a foot and travel back 2,000 years is really interesting."

The results of the dig and the story of the site will be told at an interpretation centre which will also be established at Willow Tree Fen for the benefit of visitors. The increase in Lincolnshire's traditional fenland will also provide opportunities for local people and schools to become involved in wildlife and landscape conservation. It will also provide benefits for tourism through improved access and help raise awareness of the importance of our ecological heritage and historic landscapes.

The purchase and restoration of Willow Tree Fen has been made possible through the financial support of Natural England, the Heritage Lottery Fund, Lincolnshire Waterways Partnership, the Environmental Agency and members of the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust.

WRITTEN OCTOBER 2011

See also A history of salt making