Droitwich's Spa Revival
Tony Aldous on a Worcestershire town whose natural resources brought the Romans there.
Droitwich Spa in Worcestershire, believes in celebrating its history – and has plenty of it to celebrate. Most of that history stems from salt deposits so rich that they make the spa waters to this day stronger even than the Dead Sea. You can float on them effortlessly and they have considerable therapeutic powers. 'Sal sapit omnia', reads the town's motto – 'Salt flavours everything'.
But it was the salt as a useful, marketable commodity that brought the Romans to Droitwich. They built roads which met there (one called the Saltway), a fort on the hilltop above the salt deposits, and a villa for the official in charge of them. In Droitwich's recently opened Heritage Centre is a permanent exhibition (currently closed for alterations, but due to re-open in September with a new audio-visual show) which includes a 10ft long Roman brine barrel, a Roman skeleton, and a section of Roman mosaic. The Romans grew grapes on the south-facing slopes below the fort – an area called to this day Vines Lane.
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