History

In the early thirteenth century, the de Merburie family were the first recorded occupiers at Marbury and lived in a thatched, half-timbered house.

Richard Savage, 4th Earl Rivers of Rocksavage, bought the estate in 1683 and his daughter, Elizabeth, married James Barry, 4th Earl of Barrymore in 1712. James encased the half-timbered house in stone and the Barry family would be owners of the Marbury estate for the next 220 years.

The salt industry around Northwich had been developed from brine springs by the Romans and in 1670, rock salt was discovered at about 100ft (15m) depth at Dairy House Meadows on the Marbury estate.

A lower bed of purer salt was discovered in 1780 about 300ft (90m) below the surface. Extracting salt from this lower bed by pumping brine out of the ground was to completely change the landscape.