AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE GLASS INDUSTRY: THE MONUMENTS PROTECTION

Abstract

This article presents an overview of the archaeology of the glass industry in Britain from the Roman period to the 20th century. It is based upon work undertaken in 1992–3 for the English Heritage Monuments Protection Programme (MPP) and revised later in that decade, with additions to take account of the developer-funded archaeological work undertaken in recent years. It concentrates on the development of technology in the charcoal- and coal-fired glass industries and contains descriptions of sites and terminology.

The MPP Step 1 report was originally written in 1993 for English Heritage. The assistance given by the following during that project is acknowledged: the National Archaeological Record (NMR) at Swindon, now run by English Heritage and the SMR/HER Officers for Avon, Cheshire, Cumbria, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Hereford and Worcester, Kent, Lancashire, Nottinghamshire, Shropshire, Somerset, Staffordshire, Surrey, East Sussex, West Sussex, Tyne and Wear, Warwickshire and South Yorkshire. Steps 2 and 3 were completed by 2003.

The following have kindly shown me sites and finds: the late Denis Ashurst, Peter Boland, Justine Bayley, Colin Clark, Roger Dodsworth, David Dungworth, Wendy Evans, Mike Heyworth, Mike Hodder, Ruth Hurst Vose, Mick Krupa, Jenny Lewis, Stafford Linsley, Jennifer Price, Andrew Russell, Janet Rutter, Michael Truman, Chris Welch, Philip Wise. Carlotta Gardner digitised the original MPP report for use in the preparation of this paper.

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Notes on contributors

DAVID CROSSLEY

DAVID CROSSLEY is Honorary Reader in Archaeology, University of Sheffield. He is joint editor of Historical Metallurgy.

Correspondence to: David Crossley. Email: [email protected]