Glass Discussion & Research. NO IDENTIFICATION REQUESTS here please. > British & Irish Glass

Ravenhead Glass, Help needed!

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NazeingResearch:
Hello there, I'm new to the forum and have been trying to find as much information on Ravenhead glass as I possibly can. I was hoping someone here would be able to fill in the gaps; for such a large company there seems to be very little information about them.

What I have found so far (if any of this is incorrect please let me know!) Its the beginings of the company I am having a really hard time establishing and names, designers associated with Ravenhead.

1901: Ravenhead was bought out by Pilkingtons

1948: UNited Glass installed a new machine, the Westlake, made by Oewns-Illinois. The firm was now capable of producing huge amounts of glasses fully automatically. @Worthington', 'Paris' & 'Waterloo' designs first to be produced this way.

1964: United Glass closes Sherdley plant, all production moved to Ravenhead

1977: Company sales amount to £15 million

1987: United Glass/Ravenhead sold to Maerican Bottlemaker Libby

2000: Ravenhead sold to Durobor, owned by Belgian Regional Government of Wallonne Brabant

2001: 300 Jobs lost when firm closed in March, after falling into financial dificulties

2003: Rayware bought factory site and the Ravenhead name, continued to produce Ravenhead glass

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Anything left over will hopefully be revealed in Sheffield

Ivo:
check out a copy of Lesley Jackson's "20th Century Factory Glass" - it has a three page article on Ravenhead.

Max:
...also Andy McConnell's book '20th Century Glass' has an interesting 6 page article on Hardie Williamson you might enjoy.

NazeingResearch:
Cheers for the tips. I have a copy of 20th Century Glass, but it doesnt tell you anyhting about Ravenhead's early history. Luckily they have a copy of 20th century factory glass in a couple of libraries so I'll get that one out. THanks for your help

David E:
You might also be interested to learn that Heidi is currently researching United Glass (Sherdley/Ravenhead) with a view to publishing a book at some point. We have also 'started' a web site (started = it has a menu! ;D) which is at:

www.sherdley-ravenhead.com

Naturally, any input would be most welcome. The dates look right to me, but I'll alert Heidi to this thread who has far more experience than me.

Designers of screen-printed designs from c.1955-1980 are Alexander Hardie Williamson, Annette Meech and John Clappison. We also have a forum for Slumped and Transfer printed gl;ass that you might like to explore for further information:

http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/board,12.0.html

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