PICTURES: Choice of Brora as venue for Scottish Salt Symposium is a 'fitting tribute'
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A CELEBRATION of the Scottish sea salt industry, past and present, is set to take place in Brora.
Salt historians, archaeologists, enthusiasts and artisan salt producers will gather in the village on Saturday and Sunday, October 16-17, for a symposium on the Scottish sea salt industry.
A programme of talks by leading researchers and salt makers on Saturday will be followed on Sunday by experimental salt making at Bora Heritage Centre and guided visits to the archaeological sites of Brora’s salt pans.
The symposium is being organised by Joanna Hambly of the coastal archaeology charity the SCAPE trust in collaboration with local partners including Brora Salt Pans Research Group and Clyne Heritage Society.
It follows a sea salt making day held in the village in August by Clyne Heritage Society with the help of expert salters from the Waggonway Project 1722, of Cockenzie.
Brora has a long connection with the sea salt industry – it was the centre of the most northerly coal fired sea salt manufacturing industry in Scotland from the late 1500s to the early 1800s.
In 2004, Clyne Heritage Society members Jacquie Aitken and Nick Lindsay alerted SCAPE to the eroding buildings of Brora’s historic salt making sites in the dunes of the Back Shore.
Over the next ten years, the two organisations, helped by hundreds of volunteers, carried out archaeological excavations on the sites, amassing a great deal of information and retrieving objects which were in danger of being destroyed by coastal erosion.
Ms Hambly said: “All of this information is now being brought together, and it seemed a fitting tribute to Brora to bring those interested in Scotland’s salt history together in a significant place for the industry."
Jacquie Aitken, who now coordinates the popular Brora Salt Pans Research Group, said: “This event is the culmination of years of research into Brora’s place in the salt and coal industries of Scotland, and it is so gratifying to be holding it here.
“It’s an exciting opportunity to learn about these early industries from Scotland’s most renowned historians, hear about archaeological discoveries in Brora and across Scotland and Ireland, and listen to the experiences of artisan salt producers operating in Scotland today.”
The event will open on Saturday, with keynote speaker, historian Professor Chris Whatley, author of The Scottish Salt Industry 1570-1850. He will kick off a wide-ranging programme of talks, to be held in Brora Primary School hall and community centre.
Representatives from the Isle of Skye Sea Salt Company, the East Neuk Salt Company from Fife and Blackthorn Salt from Ayrshire will talk about their methods of artisan salt making in Scotland today.
On Sunday there will be a field trip to the archaeological sites and experimental salt making in a replica pan at the Brora Heritage Centre.
Tickets for the weekend cost £25.00 and include entrance to the Saturday conference with lunch coffee and tea, and Sunday activities. Click here for links to the full programme and tickets.
A limited number of cost price tickets (£15) are available for KW9 residents and are available from the Brora Heritage Centre and the Otter’s Couch in Brora.
