Downham West is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

in the English

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

The parish is west of

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

, south-south-west of

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...

and north of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. The nearest town is

Downham Market Downham Market, sometimes simply referred to as Downham, is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Norfolk, England. It lies on the edge of the Fens, on the River Great Ouse, approximately 11 miles south of King's Lynn, 39 ...

which is north east of the parish. The nearest railway station is at

for the Fen Line which runs between

and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

. The nearest airport is Norwich International Airport. The parish of Downham West, in the 2001 census, has a population of 285, rising marginally to 286 at the Census 2011. For the purposes of local government, the parish falls within the

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

King's Lynn and West Norfolk King's Lynn and West Norfolk is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Norfolk, England. Its council is based in the town of King's Lynn. The district also includes the t ...

Description

West Downham is a small Fenland parish in the west of the county of Norfolk. There is no village called West Downham within the parish, only a small hamlet which is called Salters Lode. The hamlet is strung out along the A1122 road that hugs the drains and the course of the Great Ouse river, and consist of a few isolated farms standing out in the Fen. The name of Downham comes from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

meaning 'homestead on a hill',Dictionary of English Place-Names: By A D Mills (Oxford, Oxford University Press) and West designation from the direction from nearby

. Salters Lode derives its name the

meaning 'place where salt is kept', and 'watercourse or drainage channel'.

Salters Lode

The hamlet of Salters Lode is scattered around a lock at the end of the Well Creek navigation. Well Creek is part of the Middle-Level system and on the route that forms a navigation link between the

river Nene The River Nene ( or ) flows through the counties of Northamptonshire, Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, and Norfolk in Eastern England from its sources in Arbury Hill in Northamptonshire. Flowing Northeast through East England to its mouth at Lutt ...

and

river Great Ouse The River Great Ouse ( ) is a river in England, the longest of several British rivers called "Ouse". From Syresham in Northamptonshire, the Great Ouse flows through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk to drain into the ...

History

During the period that the area was occupied by the Romans Salters Lode became an important part of the

salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

industry on the

Fen A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetland along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as mires ...

edge. A Roman road called the Fen Causeway which ran through the Fens to

Ermine Street Ermine Street is a major Roman road in England that ran from London (''Londinium'') to Lincoln ('' Lindum Colonia'') and York ('' Eboracum''). The Old English name was ''Earninga Strǣt'' (1012), named after a tribe called the ''Earninga ...

Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...

, passed through the parish of Downham West on a strip of silt that rises above the level of the peat. With the proximity of this road, salt working became an important industry in this area and giving rise to the hamlet's name. In 1993 the Norfolk Archaeological Unit discovered the site of a Roman salt works in West Downham dating to the 3rd and the 4th centuries. The excavations revealed a series of enclosures, structures and turbaries along with a ditched Roman field system and what was once a Roman canal. The archaeologist also found Roman coins and pottery. This evidence has led to the conclusion that there had been Roman settlement and industrial activity of a substantial level in the area.

Salters Lode Lock

The lock is managed and owned by the Middle Level Commissioners inland drainage authority. This authority is responsible for the middle-level network of drains, primarily for land drainage in the area, but also the navigation link between the two rivers. Salters Lode lock is part of the

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

complex which makes up the main gateway onto the Great Ouse navigation system from the tidal river. The Denver complex consists of a number of locks and sluices that are used for navigation access and management of water levels on the numerous waterways that characterise this part of

The Fens The Fens or Fenlands in eastern England are a naturally marshy region supporting a rich ecology and numerous species. Most of the fens were drained centuries ago, resulting in a flat, dry, low-lying agricultural region supported by a system o ...

Salters Lode smockmill

The Ordnance Survey map of 1836Ordnance Survey. 1824-1836. Ordnance Survey First Edition 1 inch has the position of Salters Lode smockmill located on land between what is now the A1122 road and where Well Creek and the River Great Ouse converge. This mill began life as a drainage mill built by Drainage Commissioners, but was converted into a corn mill around c.1850.
Norfolkmills/Salters Lode Smockmill The mill had three pairs of stones which were driven by one pair of single-shuttered patent sails and one pair of common sails. The mill stood four-storeys high with the first being the base which was octagonal and constructed from brick. The main body of the mill was constructed of tarred vertical weatherboarding. At the top of the mill was a boat-shaped cap. There was no fantail and a tailpole with steps on each side was used to turn the mill into the wind. The mill ceased working in 1924 and was standing in a derelict state in 1949. Today there is no evidence of the mill to be seen.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in Norfolk King's Lynn and West Norfolk Civil parishes in Norfolk