DROITWICH, a borough and market-town, having
exclusive jurisdiction, though
locally in the upper division
of the hundred of Halfshire, county of WORCESTER,
6 miles (N. B. by N.)
rom Worcester, and 118
(N.W.) from London, and
containing 2176 inhabitants.
This place was anciently denominated Wich, or Wiche,
from the wiehes, or salt springs, with which the neighbourhood
abdunds; and the prefix Droit, right or legal,
is supposed to refer to some exclusive privilege for the
manufacture of salt, obtained by the inhabitants. Droitwich
appears to have been a town of the ancient Britons,
called by Richard of Cirencester Salince, from its
saline springs; having been situated on a British road,
called the Saltway. There is no evidence of its having
ever been occupied by the Romans; but under the Saxon
government it rose to importance, and seems to have
given name to their province of Wicda, of which Worcestershire
constituted the principal part. During the war
between Charles I. and the parliament, the inhabitants
adhered Steadily to the royal cause, and subsequently received
a letter from that unfortunate monarch, acknow
ledgirig a due sense of their loyalty. The town is situated
on the river Salwarp, upon which there are several
corn-niills. The manufacture of salt is -probably
coeval-with the town itself; but it was not until the
year 1725, that the strong brine, for which it is now
famous, was discovered. Its purity is considered superior
to that of any salt obtained elsewhere; and the
quantity produced amounts to about seven hundred
thousand bushels a year. Various acts of parliament
have passed for the better regulation of this branch
of manufacture. By charter of James I. the exclusive
privilege of sinking brine pits within the borough was
given to the corporation, who granted licenses to others;
but this was overthrown about 1690, by a legal decision
in favour of an enterprising individual, who, by a breach
of this supposed right, successfully encountered the opposition
of the party claiming it. Pits then became numerous,
and the trade was thrown open to competition,
to the great advantage of the community. At the distance
of from thirty to forty feet from the surface of the
ground is a hard bed of talc, or gypsum, generally about
one hundred andfifty feet thick. A small hole is bored
through this to the river of brine, which is in depth about
twenty-two inches, and beneath which is a hard rock of
salt. The water, which rises rapidly through this aperture,
is pumped into a capacious reservoir, whence it is
conveyed into iron boilers and heated. This produces
evaporation, and the salt, which sinks to the bottom, is
collected, dried, and made ready for the market. Previously
to 1610, wood alone was used in boiling it; but
owing to a scarcity in this article of fuel, coal was then
adopted, and has since, been continued. Of the brine
obtained, one-fourth part is salt, whilst in that of Northwich,
in Cheshire, the proportion of salt is only onesixth.
The want of conveyance by water for a long time
operated as an impediment to the extension of the trade,
but in 1655 a project was formed for making the Salwarp
navigable, though not then under taken. However,
soon after the Restoration, the design was renewed, and
operations commenced: but, when five out of the six
locks which were considered necessary for the purpose
were completed, the attempt was abandoned, from a
conviction of its inefficacy. An act of parliament was
then obtained, in 1767 for cutting a canal from
this town to the Severn; it was consequently begun in
1768, and completed in 1771, under the direction of
Brindley, the celebrated engineer, at an expense of
£25,000. The canal is navigable for vessels of sixty
tons burden, and the junction takes place at Hawford.
A building, called the Exchequer-house, where the payments
from the persons who held licenses to make salt,
and the other profits derived by the corporation from
the brine pits, were made weekly, was erected about the
year 1581, but it was taken down about the year 1826,
and new court-rooms have been built near the spot
on which it stood. At the same time an old markethouse
was taken down, anda new one formed under the
court-rooms; also two good prisons. The malting
trade is carried on to a limited extent. The market is
on Friday; and fairs are held on the Thursday before
the 20th of June, and the Wednesday before St. Thomas'
day; during which a court of pie-powder is held.
The town was originally incorporated by a charter
from John, conferring on the inhabitants various pri"
vileges, which have been confirmed and increased by
succeeding monarchs. By the charter of the 22nd of
James I., which refers-to prior charters,the body corporate
consists of two bailiffs, a recorder,.two justices, a
town clerk, burgesses, &c. The bailiffs, the recorder, and
the bailiffs for -the preceding year, are justices of the
peace: the bailiffs are also clerks of the market, and
coroners for the borough. A court of record is held
every Thursday before the bailiffs and town-clerk, for
the recovery of debts under £ 10. A court of session
is held quarterly by the bailiffs, recorder, &c.; and a
court leet twice a year before the town clerk. The
bailiffs and burgesses have the power of enacting byelaws,
and in all cases exercise exclusive jurisdiction. The
borough returned two burgesses to the parliaments of
Edward I., and to those held in the 2nd and 4th  of
Edward II., from which period the privilege ceased
until its renewal in 1554. The right of election, according
to a decision of the house of commons iu
1690, is vested in the burgesses of the corporation
of the salt-springs: the number of voters is about
forty, and the bailiffs are the returning officers. The
heir apparent, or the adopted heir to a deceased burgess,
is entitled to the freedom of the borough; and an
heiress communicates the same privilege to her husband;
but if a burgess die, leaving daughters, without
having adopted either of them as the successor to his
burgage tenure, his burgess-ship becomes extinct. The
freedom may afeo be obtained by gift of the corporation
at large. Each person made free must possess, at least,
a quarter of a plat of inheritance. The parliamentary
influence is possessed by Lord Foley, who nominates
both members.
The borough comprises the greater part of the united
parishes of St. Andrew and St. Mary de Witton, those
of St. Peter de Witton and St. Nicholas, and a small
portion of that of St. Augustine de Wich, or Dodderhill;.
all In; the archdeaconry and diocese of Worcester. The
parishes- of St. Andrew and St. Mary were united by
letters patent of Edward VI., dated 4th of June, in the
second year of his reign, which union was confirmed by
an act obtained ha the 13th of Charles II. The living
is a discharged rectory, rated in the king's books at
£7. 12. 1., and ha the patronage of the Crown. The
church, which was rebuilt after having been destroyed
by a casual fire in 1293, has some fine portions in the
eariy English style with additions of later date; the
southern entrance, which still remains, appears to be
Saxon. The living of St. Peter's is a discharged vica-
rage, rated in the king's books at £6, and in the
patronage of Earl Somers. The church has a tower
in the later English style some1 fine decorated windows,
and a small quantity of ancient stained glass. A chapel
of ease to this chtmch formerly stood on the bridge,
but it was taken- down and a new one built in, 1763,
on& diSerent site. The living of St. Nicholas is a rectory,
rated in the kings books at £4. 9. 7., aad in the
patronage of the Crown. The church was greatly injured
during "the parliamentary war, and only about half
of the tower remains. Here are places of worship for
Independents- and Wesleyan Methodists. The hospital
of St. Mary, in the parish of St. Augustine, was founded
for a masts? and? brethren, by Walter de Dovere, in the
reign of Edward I., under the patronage of the prior and
convent at Worcester; part of the building still remains
near Chapel bridge. The Coventry charity hospital,
which is situated in St. Peter's parish, comprises nineteen
tenements occupied by thirty-eight old men and
women above sixty years of age: it wa& founded in
consequence- of a bequest from Henry Coventry, Esq.,
who, in 1686, left £1000, to erect a workhouse, or
hospital, and1 d£2>40 for its support. Here is a charity
school for forty boys and forty girls, who are educated,
clothed, and, on leaving- school, apprenticed-. Richard
de Wich, Bishop of Chichester, was born here: he was
a man of extensive erudition for those times, and .was
canonized by Urban IV., in 1262, nine years after his
death. The inhabitants of the borough held his fame
in great estimation, and were wont to celebrate an annual
festival, with games, &c.r hi honour thereoS. Sergeant.
Wilde, an eminent republican lawyer, who was
made Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, under the
Protectorship of Cromwell, was also a native of Droit-
wich.