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Droitwich Spa

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Droitwich Spa is a town in northern Worcestershire, England, on the River Salwarpe and has a population of 22,585 (2001). The town is situated on massive deposits of salt, and salt has been extracted there since ancient times. The natural Droitwich brine contains 2 1/2 lb of salt per gallon - ten times stronger than sea water and only rivaled by the Dead Sea [link].

Contents

History

In the time of the Romans, it was known as "Salinae", and several Roman roads ran to the town.

Droitwich Lunatic Asylum was established in 1791. Records at the Worcestershire County Record Office show its presence in 1837 to 1838. An advert in the Transactions of the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association, in 1844, records that Martin Ricketts, of Droitwich was the Surgeon and Charles Hastings from the Worcester Infirmary was the Physician.

Droitwich remained a fairly small town until the 1960s, when the population was still barely 7,000; however, it has grown considerably since due to overspill from Birmingham. Originally a target population of some 45,000 was in the offing, but it is at present about half that.

Salt and Brine

Salt was extracted by pumping up saturated brine from the salt deposits, and evaporating the brine; over the years the removal of enormous quantities of salt from the substrata of the town led to considerable, if gradual, subsidence in some parts of the town; one photograph from the early 20th century shows one Droitwich house tilted at a considerable angle from the vertical.

In the 19th century, Droitwich became famous as a Spa town. Unlike other places, the medicinal benefits were not derived from drinking the spa water, which is almost saturated brine, but from the muscular relief derived by swimming and floating in such a dense, concentrated salt solution, at the town's brine baths (first opened in 1830).

The original Brine Baths have long since closed, but a new brine bath (part of the Droitwich Spa private hospital) is open to the public for relaxation and hydrotherapy.

The salt industry was industrialised and developed in the 19th century by John Corbett who built the nearby Chateau Impney.

Opened in the 1930s was the town's lido, a large open-air swimming pool, which used diluted brine from beneath the town. See: Droitwich Spa Lido

Industry and Commerce

Transport

Collectively known as the Droitwich Canal, two canals met in the town centre. These are the Droitwich Barge Canal built by James Brindley in 1771 and the Droitwich Junction Canal built in 1854. The Junction canal linked Droitwich to the Worcester and Birmingham Canal. Plans are currently being made to re-connect the Junction Canal to the Worcester and Birmingham Canal at Hanbury and to re-connect the Barge Canal to the River Severn at Hawford.

The railway station, formerly on the Great Western Railway, is just outside the town centre with trains to Birmingham, Worcester, Kidderminster and Stourbridge.

Broadcasting

Near Droitwich there is the central longwave broadcasting facility of the UK (Wychbold BBC transmitter), which is also used for transmissions in the medium wave range, AM transmitter Droitwich. It was sited near Droitwich because the huge block of underground salt provided a good ground earth and increased signal strength (as related by Mr. Humphreys, Chief Engineer for many years).

Retail

In 2005 Waitrose opened a new supermarket in the grounds of the old covered market, directly behind the heavily-subsided High Street, Droitwich Town centre also has a Morrisons. Other shops in the central shopping precinct include: Boots the Chemist, W H Smith, Peacocks, Wilsons Pet Store, Argos (soon to be built) and Wilkinsons.

There are a range of banks represented in the town, including NatWest, HSBC, Alliance & Leicester, Lloyds TSB, Halifax and Barclays.

Amenities

Lido

Until the late-90s Droitwich Spa Lido was open as a public open-air salt-water swimming pool. Since then various schemes have come and gone, legal/commercial arguments continue as to the viability of re-building and reopening this facility. The Lido Park remains a pleasant and popular space, with Droitwich Cricket Ground on its edge.
Westwood House, Droitwich
Enlarge
Westwood House, Droitwich

Entertainment

The Norbury Theatre hosts regular shows year-round. Much of the Norbury Theatre Building has been turned into apartments.

Droitwich has a selection of eat-in and take-out restaurants.

There are currently no late night clubs in Droitwich, with many people choosing to go to Worcester or even Birmingham for a night out. There are of plenty of pubs in Droitwich including: The Fox and Goose, The Riflemans Arms, The Star and Garter, The Hop Pole, The Red Lion,The Talbot, Barley Mow, The Doverdale and The Castle.

Of these pubs, the Red Lion has taken on 24-hour licencing.

The Raven Hotel is a Wattle and Daub hotel that holds a central position within the town.

Schools

The Droitwich Spa pyramid of schools works on a three tier system, with one high school (Droitwich Spa High School); two middle schools (Witton Middle School and Westacre Middle School); and nine first schools (Chawson, Cutnall Green, Hindlip, Ombersley, St Peters, St Josephs, Tibberton, Westlands and Wychbold First Schools). There is also a fee paying private school, Whitford and Dodderhill.

Until the late 80s another middle school existed called St. Richard De Wych, C of E. This school was closed and the land built on with further housing development in the Westlands Estate (Formerly known as 'Boycott Estate')

Sport

Football

Droitwich Spa Football Club

Rugby

Droitwich Rugby Football Club

Famous Droitwichians

Twinning

Further reading

External links

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

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