Mines in Worcestershire

Worcestershire's mineral wealth is dissolved in its groundwater. Salt has been worked around Droitwich and Stoke Prior since the Iron Age, drawn up as brine from a bed of rock salt some 90 m thick rather than mined dry, and in the 19th century John Corbett made Stoke Prior the largest salt works in Europe. The industry's legacy is subsidence: the same wild brine that made the fortune has been dissolving the ground beneath the two towns for centuries.

Record created: 24 August 2026 · Last researched: 24 August 2026