Description:This barrow was used for running salt lumps to the hothouse British Soda Co.'s works on Stafford Common. It was collected when the works closed in 1970.
Brine deposits were discovered under Stafford Common in 1877, during a search for water supplies for the town. In 1893 the Stafford Salt and Alkali Co. was founded on Common Road.
The company opened a second works in Baswich a year later, supplied with brine from Stafford Common by a pipeline which passed through the centre of the town and also fed the Brine Baths in Greengate Street.
The success of the Salt and Alkali Co. led to two other firms starting up on Stafford Common - the Crown Saltworks and Chance and Hunt.
In 1950 the Salt and Alkali Co. combined with other companies to form Amasal Ltd., which in turn was taken over in 1959 to become a subsidiary of the British Soda Co.
The Baswich works were taken over by Vacuum Salt Ltd in 1948.
Eventually the brine pumping process caused subsidence in the north of the town, and therefore salt production in Stafford was banned in 1970.