Barons Quay & The Northwich Carrying Company (1883-1932)

The Northwich Carrying Company Ltd operated from the Barons Quay area in Northwich. The company was  formed in 1883 by a local slate merchant Thomas Moore to carry goods between Northwich and Liverpool. G H Brock joined him as co-director in 1906.

The company was used to carry salt and chemicals by many small businesses and shopkeepers as well as by Brunner Mond after its formation in 1874. An early shareholder was W J Yarwood, who built and repaired a number of their vessels. From 1920 the company, W J Yardwood & Sons, built barges & coasters with local names like Hatchmere, Pickmere and Redesmere which traded along the Weaver, Mersey & the west coast.

Eventually river transport became less economically viable due to the challenge from road and rail and the company was wound up in 1932. The Northwich Carrying Company name was sold for £5.

Moore & Brock's considerable premises were also used to house their builder's merchant business. In 1910 Kelly's Directory of Cheshire carried a substantial advert for the business.

Its large four-storey warehouse was burnt down quite recently in mysterious, some say suspicious, circumstances. Following the discovery in the early 1990s that most land in the area was liable to subside the value of the site was drastically reduced and Moore & Brock ceased trading.

Northwich is underlain by numerous abandoned salt workings and the old Barons Quay mine and three others, Witton Bank, Neumann's and Penny's Lane mines were causing concern because of potential subsidence. They have since been stabilised as part of the English Partnerships Land Stabilisation project. In 2004 Vale Royal Borough Council was awarded £28.9 million to rectify the problem. It was the largest project of its kind in the world, as 850,000 m3 of void was filled at depths of 90m below ground.  The project involved removing millions of litres of brine from the four mines and replacing it with a mixture of pulverised fuel ash (PFA), cement and salt. The PFA arrived by rail; the cement and salt by road. The grout was mixed at Brunner Mond, Winnington from where it was pumped via a pipeline into the mines through a series of boreholes.

The removed brine was pumped in the opposite direction to Winnington and then taken by train to British Salt in Middlewich.

                                                                                                                                 Northwich Chronicle

Any corrections and additional information gratefully received contact john p birchall

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