Town Tour - Walk the Walk or Ride the Ride

Salt Worker sculpture

Turning left at the end of the library you will see a modern day sculpture dedicated to the salt workers who made Droitwich Spa famous.

Returning to St. Andrew’s Street, carry on down the road and turn left alongside the Spinning Wheel restaurant.

You are entering the shopping precinct and on the right hand side you will see a mural modelled in clay, depicting important buildings and historical items in Droitwich Spa.

Mural

These buildings are The Brine Baths, Canal Bridge, Chateau Impney, Font in St. Andrew’s Church, Friar Street Houses, Old Cock Inn, Priory House, Raven Hotel, Sacred Heart Church, a Salt Barge, Salters Hall, St. Augustine’s Church and the Old Town Hall.

You will see many of these on the tour.

Retracing your steps to St. Andrew’s Street and proceeding down the street you will see St. Andrew’s Church on the right hand side.

St. Andrew’s Church

Due to subsidence the church tower became dangerous and had to be dismantled in 1928. The subsidence was caused by the extraction of the brine for the salt workings.

Entering the church you will see the bells stored one inside the other in the north aisle. The main part of the church dates from 1290, but there are some earlier parts including carvings on the capitals of the arches, which support the tower. It is said St. Richard was christened here, although not in the current font which is dated some four centuries later.

The chapel in the northeast corner is dedicated to St. Richard. One of the memorial tablets in the church is dedicated to Captain Norbury who fought with Admiral Benbow in the West Indies.

The old Town Hall

Opposite St. Andrew’s Church is the old Town Hall. This was built in 1825 and superseded a building called the “Exchequer”.

The council chamber was upstairs and the ground floor, which was open behind the pillars, was used for a weekly market, which spilled into the square, which was the medieval centre of the town. Turn right by the side of the church and walk along the High Street.

You will see that buildings on the south side of the street are leaning at peculiar angles, again caused by brine extraction. At one time the High Street was level even within living memory.

Turn into Gurneys Lane, which is on the left hand side.

Brine Pumping Station

This is the site of the last brine pumping station operating between 1850 and 1921.

The brine was heated in large pans and when the liquid evaporated the remaining salt crystals were packed into boxes for transport.

An enormous amount of fuel was needed in the evaporation process producing a large amount of pollution from all the salt works.

At first wood was used for burning depleting the surrounding woodland. Coal became the main fuel in 16th century.

Turn back into the High Street and go left along to the end.

At the end of High Street, the black and white building on the corner on the right hand side was previously Bullock’s 15th century café.

The building now houses the Wychavon District Council One-Stop Shop. Adjacent to the shop there is an area of ground, where when it was excavated in March 1999, a 14th century glazed horseman was found.

Bullock's 15th century cafe. From a print by Brian Amor © Brian Amor 2000

Bullock's 15th century cafe.
From a print by Brian Amor © 2000

This and other artefacts are on display in the Heritage Centre.

Turn left out of the High Street into Queen Street, and follow it to the junction of the Hanbury Road and Saltway at a set of traffic lights.

Over the junction ahead of you is Chapel Bridge.

This is the site of the ancient entrance to the town and the crossing of the River Salwarpe. This crossing was guarded in Roman times and a fort stood on the top of Dodderhill up to your left hand side.

In medieval times Chapel Bridge was the site of an unusual church, a dependent chapel of St. Peter’s.

Chapel Bridge today

In 1781 the historian, Dr. Treadway Nash, described how packhorses would be led through the middle of the building when the river was too high to be forded.

Chapel Bridge in the 18th century

The chapel was demolished in 1763. In the 14th century Droitwich was enclosed by ditches instead of walls and access was through toll gates, one at the junction of Queen Street and the High Street and one near the Raven Hotel in St. Andrew’s Street.

Today the bridge carries the A38.

Carry on up the A38 under the railway bridge and up to the traffic lights at the top where on your right hand side you will see the Chateau Impney Hotel (you may have to walk or ride up a little way to get a view of the hotel).

This is the house built by John Corbett in the form of a French Chateau reputedly in honour of his French born wife in 1875.

Chateau Impney Hotel

Three thousand men were involved in the construction of the building, totally transforming the landscape creating 120 acres of parkland, lakes, waterfalls and tropical gardens and over 3,000 varieties of trees were planted.

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