THE Holford Brinefield plays a crucial part in British industry today - but few people know what goes on there.

And as the company which owns it, Chlor-Chemicals, prepares for a time of change, reporter NICK HALLISSEY went along in search of buried brine.

QUESTION: Where will you find the largest single industrial area in Northwich?

Tempting answers would be ICI's Lostock works, or Brunner Mond's Winnington site, or even the Morrison's warehouse at Rudheath.

All, however, are wrong.

Because the largest industrial area in Northwich doesn't just have employees working on it. There are anglers, ramblers, dog-walkers, cyclists and birdwatchers tramping over it every day. Not to mention tens of thousands of insects, fish, and flowers. That's a day in the life of the Holford Brinefield.

Beneath this patchwork quilt of fields lies the lifeline of the chlorine industry. But all you'll ever see of it is a series of inconspicuous huts, dotted around the fields from Lostock to Lach Dennis and Middlewich.

It's all part of Chlor-Chemicals, once a division of ICI, now on the market for a new buyer as part of the chemical giant's sell-off of its component groups.

If you're walking your dog on top of the brinefield, you're probably unaware of what's going on beneath your feet. To sum up briefly:

Brine, or water and salt, are being collected from 66 vast cavities beneath the surface.

The brine is purified.

The brine is transferred by pipeline to the Chlor-Chemicals' base in Runcorn, and also to other customers in Northwich.

In Runcorn, the brine is zapped with electricity to create chlorine.

The chlorine comes to you in soap, detergent, paint and solvents.

And natural gas is stored at the site, ready to be supplied to Northwich homes.

Today, Chlor-Chemicals runs itself from its Runcorn base, independent in all but name from its parent, ICI. But the sell-off looms, and now staff at the site are looking to the future.

Manufacturing manager Neil Brow explained: "Chlor-Chemicals is just one of the areas that ICI is selling off.

"It's common knowledge that the chemical industry isn't the employer it once was, unfortunately, but the nature of the brinefield and how it is run mean that it has always been operated with comparatively few staff.

"The industry runs in peaks and troughs and we all know it's in a considerable trough at the moment, with the far eastern economy in turmoil and the state of the pound. But the company has the right attributes to survive the sell-off in the long term."

The firm employs 180 people in Northwich, including 70 at the brinefield. Some redundancies may loom with the sell-off, but the firm is taking steps to keep them to a minimum.

Neil added: "We have set up a scheme called Project Solo, and that is designed to look at how we will survive the change.

"Some job losses will be necessary, but the majority of the workforce will be retained."

The briefest of trips around the brinefield reveal some remarkable facts and figures. You could fit St Paul's Cathedral into any of the 66 brine cavities, if they weren't full of water.

Every year, 30 billion tonnes of water gets processed at Holford, and four million tonnes of rock is mined. And the site itself is just over 2,500 acres from end to end - that's slightly larger than Northwich itself.

And from the hugely expensive processes to the most simple: the grass around Holford's two brine reservoirs isn't mowed, it's eaten - by a flock of sheep owned by Lostock farmer, Barbara Griffiths.

"It's cost effective," jokes Neil.

Monitoring the site is vital, to ensure the safety of the cavities. Every two years, Chlor-Chemicals carries out sonar surveys, to check the development of each cavity.

Meanwhile, in blissful tranquility, the Holford Anglers fish at a small pool near the railway line. The anglers are a team of retired brinefield workers who were allowed to landscape the pool, and fill it with fish. The public can't fish there, but it's a little oasis of calm for passing walkers and cyclists.

"The environment is important here," said Neil.

"The Cheshire Wildlife Trust has been working on our hedgerows, and any piping or well-head that you can see above ground is painted in a nice, subtle shade of green.

"We're very proud of it all, to be honest."

In many ways, the brinefield is Northwich's best-kept secret. But the world's chemical market is about to come knocking on the door, cash in hand, and so Chlor-Chemicals feel it's only right that the people of Northwich should know a little more about it.

Even down to the sheep who graze above it, in the quiet of a Cheshire afternoon.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.