Scottish Salt Symposium

SCAPE works with the public to research, investigate, interpret and promote the archaeology of Scotland’s coast

The SCAPE Trust

A weekend celebrating the archaeology and history of  the sea salt industry and artisan sea salt making in Scotland today

Brora Primary School Hall and Community Centre

This two-day Symposium will bring salt historians, archaeologists, enthusiasts and salt producers together to share knowledge and celebrate this once vital, but little-known, Scottish industry. On Saturday, our keynote speaker, historian Professor Chris Whatley, author of The Scottish Salt Industry 1570-1850, will be followed by a wide-ranging programme of talks by archaeologists and historians covering the latest research into the historical manufacture of sea salt in Scotland and further afield. The programme concludes with presentations from artisan sea salt producers operating in Scotland today. On Sunday there will be a field trip to the archaeological sites of Brora's 17th and 18th century salt houses and their associated industrial landscapes and experimental salt making in a replica salt pan at the Brora Heritage Centre.

<h2>Programme Summary</h2><h3>Saturday Conference</h3>Brora Primary School and Community Centre9:30am registration, 5:30pm close<ul><li>Chris Whatley, Scottish Salt Industry Revisited</li><li>Richard Oram, Medieval Salt Making in Scotland</li><li>Wes Forsythe, Pots and Panns: Archaeology of Salt in Post-Medieval Ireland</li><li>Tom Dawson, The Return of Salt Making to Brora, Film</li><li>Jacqueline Aitken, Rebuilding Brora’s Salt Making Heritage</li><li>Joanna Hambly, The Anatomy of a 17th Century Salt Girnel</li><li>Malcolm Bangor-Jones, Coal and Salt in 18th Century Brora</li><li>John Blair, Making Salt in Portsoy, 1793 to c. 1810</li><li>John Pickin, Peat fuelled Salt Making in the Rhinns of Galloway</li><li>Nic Coombey, Rascarrel and other Scottish Solway salt works</li><li>Gareth Jones, Observations and excavations from Cockenzie</li><li>Colin &amp; Paula Martin and Robin Murdoch, St Monans Coal and Salt Industry</li><li>Darren Peattie, East Neuk Salt Company, Preserving our Past to Sustain our future: The importance of Salt in a rural coastal community</li><li>Gregorie Marshall, Blackthorn Salt, Modern salt making using the graduation tower process </li><li>Chris and Meena Watts, Isle of Skye Sea Salt, Sustainable Sea Salt Making in Scotland Today</li></ul><h3>Sunday site visits and experimental salt making</h3>Brora Heritage Centre and site visits<ul><li>9:30am - 4pm, Brora Heritage Centre, Experimental sea salt making in a replica18th century pan</li><li> Field trips to the archaeological sites of Brora's 17th and 18th century salt houses. Leaving from the Brora Heritage Centre. </li></ul><h3><a href="https://scapetrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/SaltSymposiumDownloadProgrammeA4.pdf" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Download the Symposium programme here</a></h3>

The Symposium will appeal to everyone with an interest in the archaeology and history of salt and early coal mining. It will be a rare and wonderful occasion to participate in a stimulating weekend of discussion and celebration of these intertwined historical industries and hear from the growing community of artisan sea salt producers in Scotland today. The Symposium is hosted in the beautiful coastal Highland village of Brora, the centre of the most northerly coal-fired sea salt manufacturing industry in Scotland and the location of the oldest excavated archaeological salt making site in Scotland.

The Symposium takes place over the weekend following the popular <a href="https://www.highlandarchaeologyfestival.org/calendar.asp" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Highland Archaeology Festival</a>, and so presents an ideal opportunity to make the most of their packed programme of events in the preceding days to explore other facets of Highland archaeology with expert local guides.

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