Salt was extracted by pumping up saturated brine from the salt deposits, and evaporating the brine; over the years the removal of enormous quantities of salt from the substrata of the town led to considerable, if gradual, subsidence in some parts of the town; one photograph from the early 20th century shows one Droitwich house tilted at a considerable angle from the vertical.
In the 19th century, Droitwich became famous as a Spa town; unlike other places, the medicinal benefits were not derived from drinking the spa water (which is almost saturated brine); but from the muscular relief derived by swimming and floating in such a dense, concentrated salt solution, at the town's Brine Baths (first opened in 1830).