LOCATION: St. Monans, Miller Terrace, KY10 2BB
BUDGET: £N/A
STAGE: Concept
BUDGET: £N/A
STAGE: Concept
1:50 sectional model detailing the black-thorn towers integrated on-top of the salt making factory.
On the north coast of the Firth of Forth, a stone windmill on a grassy ridge and eight shallow indents on the plateau below are all that remain of the Newark Coal and Salt Company, founded in 1771 by Sir John Anstruther. The St Monan’s windmill was used to draw salt water through timber pipes from offshore tidal reservoirs cut into the rocks into the salt pans; the pans were heated by coal from Anstruther’s coal mine in the adjacent field, known as Coal Farm, to produce salt. The company enjoyed a lucrative trade with northern Europe until the repeal of salt duty in 1822 led to a large influx of cheaper imported salts. With this one single act, a century of salt-making was brought to an end, locally and across Scotland. Two centuries later, an ancient Germanic technique for producing salt, employing a tall tower of oak and blackthorn, is emerging in Scotland. These towers enable concentrated sea water to brine using just the wind and sun, providing a low-tech low-energy means of producing salt, reminiscent of the St. Monans windmill. Marking the beginnings of a multi-year development, Encrustations and Fragmentations provides a salt workshop to expand the recently-founded East Neuk Salt Company, based in St Monan’s, incorporating blackthorn towers to create a performative salt making experience. In the fields of Coal Farm, a new blackthorn woodland sustains the towers and encourages the community to walk and pick sloes from the trees to distil into gin. At the coast, the building sinks into the rocks, sometimes emerging from the geological boundary and sometimes accepting the imminent erosion of the coast, reconnecting the Fife coastal trail with the village.
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