A salt pan will return to Cockenzie House & Gardens after planning permission was granted.

The Waggonway Project can now rebuild the large salt pan to the north side of the historic house, with work set to begin as early as next month.

It is hoped that living-history salt making displays will become a regular fixture once construction is completed.

Making sea salt in Scotland is an historic industrial process which is intertwined with the history of Cockenzie & Port Seton, with a large complex of 12 salt pan houses being operational there in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Sea water is boiled in large metal pans, purified using egg white or ox blood, and then slowly simmered to extract salt crystals once the salinity of the brine is high enough.

The Waggonway Project recreated this process at Cockenzie House & Gardens in 2017, but this new pan will be more robust and incorporate a brick-built ash pit element, increasing furnace and fuel efficiency.

Ed Bethune, Waggonway Project chair, said: “We’re delighted to be able to work in partnership again with Cockenzie House & Gardens.

“Making salt the same way as it was done in the 18th century is a really important educational resource and helps us tell the story of our local heritage in a unique way.”

Marietta Di Ciacca, director of Cockenzie House & Gardens, added: “It is going to be so good having the Waggonway back making salt – almost as it was two centuries ago. We are looking forward to working with the Waggonway group during the summer and developing plans to retain the salt pan at the Auld Kirk.”