I would suspect the statement that only windows being made was referring to the Chance period of ownership without looking deeper. But the article does say uncertainty over the origins of all the pieces cannot be guaranteed.
As you appear to be referring to my statement, Frank, then I did
not say that
only windows were made, but that it was Nailsea's
core business. There is no doubt that Nailsea produced bottles in the early days, and also a lot of fancy items of which most have been attributed as friggers, therefore not items made commercially, or sold, by the factory. The Hartley ownership (c.1850) was when the factory was leased out and the last was Samuel Bowen, whose core business was, indeed, making window glass.
To quote from Margaret Thomas' well researched book:
p.20, Methods of Manufacture
The glassworks at Nailsea made only crown glass...
and p.24
By the late 1830s Nailsea was using a new technique in glassmaking - cylinder or sheet glass - which had been reintroduced into England by Chance Bros. in 1833.
Crown and sheet glass was only ever made to produce flat glass. There are plenty of facts and figures in this little book to support this.
Chance then took over the factory in 1870, where it tried to renovate the works (unsuccessfully) and the business closed forever in 1874. The output during Chance's tenure was minimal and this was not the thrust of my statement.
Some dates are from memory, so may be slightly out.