Glass and pottery manufacture at Silkstone, Yorkshire

Abstract

This article reports an excavation on the site of a 17th-century glasshouse and 18th-century pottery at Silkstone, Yorkshire, and summarizes the results of an intensive analytical programme of scientific analysis of the glassworking debris arising from it. The area excavated was small, but the sieving of soil samples ensured a high rate of recovery of artefacts and debris associated with the industries. A large number of samples of glass and glassworking waste from the well-dated stratigraphic sequence were analysed to determine their chemical compositions. This has confirmed that both 'white' and 'green' glass were produced and has shown that the 'white' glass changed from a mixed alkali glass to a lead glass c. 1680. These results illustrate both the importance of the Yorkshire glass industry and the information which can be obtained from even limited excavations of industrial sites through the use of scientific techniques.