History

The Maldon Crystal Salt Story

The Maldon Crystal Salt Company stands on what is believed to have been the site of a medieval salt works.

Legend has it that the secret of salt making was discovered during the period when the Romans ruled Britain 2,000 years ago.

Cassius Petrox, then commander of the Roman Legion in Maldon, took regular hot seawater baths. During the preparation of one of these baths the water kept boiling too long, as a result he noticed that there were small white crystals in the bottom of the bath, these crystals turned out to be flakes of salt. He had inadvertently discovered a method for producing salt from seawater.

Current records show that the production of salt in the Maldon area was greatly increased in the early 1700's, with the present building being first established in 1823. Seawater bathing, a fashion current of Victorian times, took place alongside at the adjoining Bath Place Wharf.

The original buildings are believed to have been
built on the site of a medieval salt pan

In 1882 a Mr. Thomas Elsey Bland, a wine and spirits merchant, who played a significant part in local affairs as J.P. and County Councillor, bought the Salt Company. He pursued the business with increasing success, trading as Maldon Crystal Salt Company, the deeds of which are still in existence.

Maldon Crystal Salt Company
delivery truck in 1923

More recent history tells us that on the 15th April 1922, James Rivers and his wife, Nellie Eliza, grandparents of the present owners, officially signed the document making them legal owners of the Company.

Some ten years later James's stepson Cyril Osborne was handed the responsibility of continuing the tradition of salt making. This lasted for the next forty years after which time his son Clive entered the business and in 1998 his grandson Steven took control, which he still continues to do today.