Cone glass furnaces

[biffvernon]

Does anyone know if there still exiests an example of a cone glass furnace?

 

[skier-hughes]

There are some non-working ones around Stourbridge/Amblecote/Wordsley and at Ironbridge, but my Dad says that they are only for show and use gas furnaces for making the odd bit of glass.

 

[Nemesis]

Lemington Newcastle. There are others (another three?) but where I can't recall at the moment. IoE should bring details.

Lemington:
http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/details/default.aspx?pid=1&id=304344

Bristol (fragment):
http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=380314&mode=quick


Lemington is now re-used as a stove showroom!

http://sine.ncl.ac.uk/view_structure_information.asp?struct_id=485

'I made several visits to this works while it was working, and was instrumental in the making of a film of the works, including various aspects of commercial glass manufacture, tube drawing by hand, the manufacture of a melting pot on the premises, and the pot changing process, the latter being one of the most ‘gothic' events I have witnessed. The film is called ‘Glassworks' and is distributed by Amber Associates, Side Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne.'
[Stafford Linsley's annotation]

Video clip:

http://www.amber-online.com/exhibitions/glassworks-1977


http://www.amber-online.com/exhibitions/glassworks-1977/exhibits/glassworks-press


Buy it:

http://shop.amber-online.com/products/glassworks



http://www.beamishcollections.com/collections/itemlist.asp?MainCatID=5&SubCatID=22

http://www.monkchester.co.uk/lemington_16.htm

 

[biffvernon]

Thanks you two. Just what I wanted

 

[Nemesis]

I gather that this is where the champagne bottle was invented. There was a bit on telly recently about it.

http://www.seaham.i12.com/myers/newcastle.htm

Historically oop north was a major manufacturer of glass.

(You know where I live if you want to visit...)

 

[Matt Green]

Discover the story of glassmaking as you follow the cool of the final blown glass to the heat of 1250 degrees C at the recently restored Redhouse Cone, the only complete cone left standing in the world.

http://www.dudley.gov.uk/redhousecone

 

[Nemesis]

Well, that's number three... but as Graham says:

but my Dad says that they are only for show and use gas furnaces for making the odd bit of glass.

This one's long gone but nice pic:

http://sine.ncl.ac.uk/view_image.asp?digital_doc_id=4059

 

[Nemesis]

Looks worth a visit though:

http://www.worldofglass.com/galleries/tunnels.htm

 

[Gareth Hughes]

Looks worth a visit though:

http://www.worldofglass.com/galleries/tunnels.htm

My home town. Aint what it was when the cooling water was pumped, steaming, into the canal just there (until the late 1970s) and the fishermen on the banks swore there were exotic fish in the canal.

That pay-to-visit attraction unfortunately replaced two free museums.

Meanwhile, in 1743, before St Helens even existed, the neighbours in Prescot were starting out in glass making too:

http://www.ecoregen.org.uk/nature/what_was/main2.html

I can't find a better copy of that engraving on the net, but it's a stunner. The glass cone was later leased by the Stourbridge factory purely to stop it being used.

And as small towns and 1960s comprehensive redevelopment have been a subject recently, here's the Market Place in Prescot before every building was cleared away in the late 1950s:

http://history.knowsley.gov.uk/show_photo.msql?reference=PT252&search=32

 

[Nemesis]

We used to make wonderful glass in this country - this is one of the more simple designs made in Newcastle (Beilby) in c 1765:



[Open Image] [Hosted by PhotoGalaxy.com]

Written by a local glass manufacturer, he provides a finely illustrated study of the city's Beilby family, greatest enamellers of glass ever known.

http://www.antiqbook.co.uk/boox/colle/100180.shtml




Comprehensive redevelopment had a lot to answer for. Still ongoing of course, at least some of it is clearing away the comprehensive redevelopments of the sixties and seventies.

 

[skier-hughes]

Discover the story of glassmaking as you follow the cool of the final blown glass to the heat of 1250 degrees C at the recently restored Redhouse Cone, the only complete cone left standing in the world.

http://www.dudley.gov.uk/redhousecone

It does use gas now, but they tell you how it was done pre-gas.

Graham

 

[Penners]

I gather that this is where the champagne bottle was invented.

I wonder where they got the idea?

 

[plumbers mate]

I am reliably informed that the glass cone at Lemington is now a Range Rover showroom.