This talk uncovers a lost industry of the Adur valley – the making of salt. Salt is something we probably all take for granted, sprinkling it on our roast potatoes or adding it to our salads. Or even, perhaps, trying to eat less of it nowadays.

In earlier times it was so valuable that it was heavily taxed. The French undercut our local produce in 14thC with their far superior ‘Fleur de Sel’, which we imported  through the port of New Shoreham. French salt was produced by sun evaporation in southern Brittany, but the Adur valley salt, known locally as ‘brown salt’ was made in a very different way, by boiling.

There are still traces of the salt-making in the valley today, if you know where to look. This talk will explain how the industry flourished, then faded. When we open our refrigerator door or put food into our freezer, we perhaps forget that our ancestors would have been using salt for the same purpose, to stop their fish and meat from going bad. Rents were sometimes paid in salt, asit was such a valuable commodity. The farmers of the Adur valley would have known all about it.

So, don’t take all this with a pinch of salt, discover it for yourself!

The speaker, Dr Janet Pennington, is an author, a past chairman of the West Sussex Archives Society, a life member of the Sussex Archaeological Society, an active member of the Wealden Buildings Study Group and Hon. President of the Brighton & Hove Archaeological Society.  She has beengiving live & Zoom talks for many years.

Zoom registration link TBA.