Salters Lode Lock Mooring

This mooring was recently refurbished with the help of the MLC back in 2021 and all boaters are welcome to use it. From here it is possible to enter the Great Ouse river.

Salters Lode Lock

Salters Lode Lock was originally a simple sluice gate and was built as far back as 1556 and from this time made the Well Stream a non tidal waterway and turned it into a local major navigational trade route, eventually being named the Well Creek. The lock is now managed by the Middle Level Commissioners, which was formed back 1862 to undertake the main water level management in the area.

Salters Lode History

During the period that the area was occupied by the Romans, Salters Lode became an important part of the Salt industry on the Fen edge. A Roman road called the Fenway Causeway which ran through the Fens to Ermine Street at Peterborough, 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.