Possible medieval salt working site, North Bank of River Crouch, Blue House Farm Nature Reserve (EHER 19583)

A map from 1700 shows a small enclosure with a building inside it, called ‘The Salt Cote’. This could have been a small building associated with salt making or perhaps a cottage on the site of an old saltern. Salt production is recorded in the adjacent parish using a similar terminology as early as 1332, so it is possible this site may have medieval origins. When visited in 1999, the surveyors noted they could not identify any features which might be linked with this activity, but the 2nd edition OS map does describe this area as a saltings.

March-May 1999. Fieldwalking survey. Evidence for post-medieval trade in salt comes from a map of around 1700 which shows, on the SW margin of Blue House Farm (see EHER 81669), a small enclosure with a building inside it, called ‘The Salt Cote’. This could have been a small building associated with salt making or perhaps a cottage on the site of an old saltern. However, salt production in the adjacent parish of Woodham Ferrers is documented as ‘le Saltcote’ as early as 1332, so it is possible that the Blue House site may have a similar antiquity, especially given its location next to an important river ferry (a large and well-preserved group of mounds survives in Woodham Ferrers, believed to be related to medieval or post-medieval salt-making (EHER 13563). By the end of the 18th century, the salt trade was in decline. When visited in 1999, there were no recorded features at the site which might be linked with this activity. <1> The 2nd edition OS map describes this area as a saltings. <2>