Droitwich Spa One-Place Study

‘Droitwich’, roughly meaning ‘rights of salt’, began life as Salinae in the Roman period and was an important centre for salt production – something which continued until the twentieth century. It is mentioned in the Doomsday Book and is important enough to be featured on many of the oldest maps of the country – most of which only include the principle towns. As part of its transformation from grimy industrial town to fashionable spa town in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Droitwich gained the ‘spa’ on its name, as well as a number of important and interesting buildings in the town.

Having grown up in the town, I have always been fascinated with the town’s long history and how a town which today seems small in comparison to the nearby bustling cities of Worcester and Birmingham could have been one of the most important towns in the Midlands. When completing my BA degree in History, I completed a dissertation on the history of the town and its transformation, and I am now focussing on writing the research up into a book.