Saltwick Nab Alum Quarry (Whitby)

 quarry, scheduled ancient monument, 17th century construction

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Alum was first quarried at the west end of Saltwick Bay in 1649, and this continued intermittently until operations ceased in 1791. The alum was processed at an alum house which was erected in 1770 and is located to the south east. Previous to this the alum was shipped to South Shields for processing. The first stage of processing was calcination, remains which survive as areas of burnt shale. The next stage was steeping which occurred in stone lined pits, some of which still survive. In the later use of the site the raw liquor was stored and then sent to the nearby alum house by timber channels known as liquor troughs. Remains of other structures such as workshops, offices, stores and a laboratory are thought to survive below ground level. On the immediate foreshore is the remains of a slipway, built of large stone blocks, and is no longer connected to the land.

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