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Identify the 37 glassworks existing in 1696 in England and Wales

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Anne:
As a breakaway from the post about the Glassworks in Swansea here http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,17546.0.html I'd like to pursue trying to identify the 37 glassworks in England and Wales in 1696. Please add to the list and we can try and put together record of who, where these early glassworks were.


--- Quote from: Marcus ---Interestingly, Sir Richard Mansel *, was awarded the country-wide monopoly for glass-making in England in 1617, but this lapsed at the beginning of the English Civil War, though, after the return of King Charles II, some noblemen did try to revive the monopoly without success.
--- End quote ---
* Note: Sometimes also seen as Mansell

Marcus also sent me these to start the list off:

London:

Aldgate, Old Broad Street, Crosswall Street, Bankside

John Baker's Vauxhall works, which may be the antecedent of Nazeing Glass

John Bellingham,  also at Vauxhall

Duke of Buckingham's works at Vauxhall and Greenwich.

Gloucestershire:

Woodchester, Newent, Newham upon Severn and Gloucester,

Midlands:

Amblecote, Wordsley and Brierley Hill.

KevinH:
In Glassmakers of Stourbridge and Dudley 1612-2002 by Jason Ellis, there is a reference in Chapter 8 (which covers Colemans Glasshouse, Lye) to a Chelwood Glasshouse in Somerset set up by Paul Tyzack and two partners after a fire destroyed the Colemans company in 1658. The Chelwood glasshouse was probably set up around 1660 and
--- Quote ---appears in John Houghton's 1696 list as one of three glasshouses in Somerset making bottles and window-glass.
--- End quote ---

So, perhaps the Swansea Heritage website reference is based on the Houghton list of 1696? Maybe it would be worthwhile going back to the folk at Swansea to check this. Anyone happen to have access to the Houghton 1696 list? That would seem to be the best way to solve the question of what glasshouses were around at that time.

In the meantime, I could try to extract references to glasshouses existing in 1696 from the details in Ellis's book. Might take a while, though!

Anne:
Source:
Ferrybridge Glassworks, Some Facts and Theories, by Terry Spencer. BA (Hons), Ph D.


--- Quote ---In 1696, John Houghton stated that there were three glasshouses in existence in Yorkshire
"…two near Silkstone and one near Ferrybridge."(18)
--- End quote ---

http://www.knottingley.org/history/ferrybridge_glassworks.htm

Anne:
https://secure.societyofglasstechnology.org.uk/cgi-bin/mi.cgi?pplace=10&sessionid=9106&page=Books

Old English Glass Houses by Francis Buckley, published by the Society of Glass Technology, 2003
The write up for this book states:

--- Quote ---John Houghton, an eminent member of the Royal Society, wrote a series of Letters to Parliament under the general title of “Husbandry and Trade Improvement”. Letter Number 198, dated 15th May 1696 listed all the glass works in England and Wales which were working at that time, around 90 in total.
--- End quote ---
so now it's 90 glassworks, not 37!

KevinH:
Maybe the Buckley book would be a good purchase ... but when I tried the "buy" link in the site it gave a "serious error"!

However, I have had a quick look through several books and found four in particular that mention the John Houghton 1696 list and give some (or very brief) comment on glasshouses in that period. The books are:
- Glass-Making In England by H. J. Powell, 1923
- From Broad-Glass to Cut Crystal, A History of The Stourbridge Glass Industry by D. R. Guttery, 1956
- British Table and Ornamental Glass by L. M. Angus-Butterworth, 1956
- Glassmakers of Stourbridge and Dudley 1612-2002 by Jason Ellis, 2002 ISBN 1-4010-6799-9 / ... 6798-0

Powell comments in Chapter VI that the Houghton details showed 26 glasshouses in and around London. In Chapter VII, for the provinces, Powell reports Houghton as 11 glasshouses in Newcastle, 9 in Bristol (and district), and 17 in the Stourbridge area. That makes a total for the Houghton lists of 37 provincial and 26 London, being a grand total of 63. But Powell's book only covers England, of course, and therefore excludes any in Wales that Houghton listed.

Guttery states 88 glasshouses were on the Houghton lists with 24 in London district, 11 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and 17 in Stourbridge. That differs from Powell by 2 less for London. Again, no comments on Wales.

Angus-Butterworth tells us that Houghton listed 9 glasshouses in Bristol, which agrees with the figure from Powell.

So, the maximum from those sources is 88 (Guttery), but add on the 2 extra that Powell stated for London and we get 90 as per Anne's findings earlier.

Now, what does Ellis say for Stourbridge? Well, his book is basically a chronological listing of the glasshouses. Listing the ones extant in 1696 we get:
- Ridgrave Glasshouse, Hungary Hill founded between 1612 and1630 closed c1810 (or later)
- Holloway End Glasshouse, Amblecote c1623 - ? 18th/20th cent.
- Henzey's Brettell Lane Glasshouse c1630 - c1720
- Bague's Glasshouses, Bretttell Lane c1640 - 1886
- Withymoor Glasshouse, Amblecote 1666 - c1723
- Hawbush Glasshouse, Brettell Lane 1674 - c1733 (or later?)
- Hagley Glasshouse pre-1678 - c1716
- Jacob's Well Glasshouse, Audnum 1682 - c1715
- Heath Glassworks, Stourbiridge pre-1685 - 1882
- Fimbrell Glasshouse, Amblecote 1687 - c1750
- Harlestones Glasshouse, Coalbournbrook c1692 - ?1783 (or later)
- Coalbournehill Glassworks, Amblecote 1691 - (?) [eventually Webb Corbett until 1999]

That's only 12 for the Stourbridge area in 1696, so what happened to the other 5 that Powell and Guttery said were on the Houghton lists? Perhaps my assessment from the book is incorrect? Or maybe there is another explanation, hinted at by Guttery ...

... John Houghton likely gained much of his information via correspondenece and perhaps in listing glasshouses by type of glass made (broad-glass; bottles; flint, green & ordinary) he counted the same glasshouse more than once.

Ellis's book does offer names of other glasshouses outside of Stourbridge, as part of the biographical details but I have not studied those references in relation to 1696.

What I did note from Angus-Butterworth was that the glass tax imposed in 1695, to fund the war with France at that time, apparently caused the closure of many glass furnaces. In 1699 the tax was repealed and glassworks began to reform again. Therefore, Houghton's lists were only a snaphot of glassworks that still existed after the tax had been imposed.

What does this all mean?
I have no idea!
But there are 12 named glasshouses in there as a starting point, plus the Chelwood one I mentioned before. Just 77 (possibly) to go!
 ;D

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