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ABSTRACT
In 2020 excavations took place on the site of the former Park Glasshouse, Birmingham, established in 1788, and subsequently the location of the Baker and Allen German Silver Works, opened in 1895. Sufficient of the glasshouse survived to enable several phases of development to be identified, one of which involved the installation, trialling and adoption c. 1860 of what then was an innovative Siemens gas regenerator that considerably improved the efficiency of the furnace. This report presents the documentary background and results of the excavations, as well as the scientific analysis of the glass waste and related products recovered from the site.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank RPS Consulting, in particular Dr Nicholas Cooke, for commissioning the project, and Chris Patrick, Principal Conservation Officer for Birmingham City Council, who monitored the work. Hace Enabling provided much help and co-operation on site; and our thanks are also extended to Nick Stawszynski of H.E. Services. We are also grateful to staff at Archives and Collections, Library of Birmingham, and West Midlands History Limited for helping source maps and illustrations and granting permission to reproduce them. The project was managed for Wessex Archaeology by John Winfer and the fieldwork directed by Rachel Williams, with on-site advice from David Dungworth. The illustrations have been produced by Esther Escudero and the report edited by Phil Andrews. The project archive will be deposited with Birmingham Museums Trust under Accession No. 2020.20.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Michael Hodder, ‘Hidden Underground. Birmingham’s Glass Industry’, History West Midlands, 2011, https://www.historywm.com/articles/hidden-underground (accessed February 27, 2023).
2 William Siemens, ‘Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Birmingham, January 30th, 1862: On a regenerative gas furnace, as applied to Glass-houses, puddling, heating, &c.’, The Engineer, part 1, June 27, 1862, 375–6; part 2, July 4, 1862, 1–3 (London: Healey).
3 Birmingham Archaeology, ‘Park Glasshouse, Dudley Road, Birmingham: An Archaeological Desk-based Assessment, 2005’ (unpublished report PN1319, 2005); AJ Archaeology, ‘Soho Loop, Dudley Road, Birmingham. Archaeological Evaluation’ (unpublished report 14/3, 2018); Oxford Archaeology, ‘Soho Loop, Dudley Road, Birmingham. Archaeological Evaluation Report’ (unpublished report 24578, 2020); Oxford Archaeology, ‘Soho Loop, Dudley Road, Birmingham. Archaeological Evaluation Report’ (unpublished report 24578, 2020).
4 Francis Buckley, Old English Glass Houses (Sheffield: Society of Glass Technology, 2003); David Crossley, ‘The Archaeology of the Coal-Fuelled Glass Industry in Britain’, Archaeological Journal 160 (2003): 160–90; Samuel Timmins, ed., The Resources, Products and Industrial History of Birmingham and the Midland Hardware District (London: Hardwicke, 1886).
5 HMSO, Commissioners of Inquiry into the Excise Establishment, and into the Management and Collection of the Excise Revenue throughout the United Kingdom (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1885).
6 Samuel Timmins, ‘Birmingham Flint Glass Manufacture’, in Birmingham and the Midland Hardware District, ed. Samuel Timmins (Abingdon: Routledge, 2016), 526–33; Siemens, Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Birmingham, January 30, 1862.
7 The London Gazette, March 13, 1874.
8 Slater’s Directory of Birmingham (1853).
9 John Piggott-Smith's 1824 map is titled “To The Right Honourable William EARL OF DARTMOUTH, Viscount Lewisham &c. &c. The Zealous Promoter of the Interests of the Town AND Liberal Patron OF ITS Public Institutions THIS Map OF Birmingham Engraved from a minute Trigonometrical survey made in years 1824 & 1825 is with Permission DEDICATED by His Lordship's Much Obliged & Most Obedt. Servants Bielby, Knott & Bielby, March 25th 1828” which is shortened to “A minute trigonometrical survey of Birmingham 1824–1825” by the Library of Birmingham (reference L/./84/3; 27122). The 1855 map is titled “ The New Survey of the Borough of Birmingham by J. Pigott-Smith, Borough Surveyor, completed in 1855” (Reference BCC/1/AO/D/2/7/3/1).
10 The Kempson map is titled “Map of the town and parish of Birmingham shewing the boundaries as perambulated by [the Commissioners of the Street Acts] in the year 1810”, by John Kempson, this map was reissued virtually unaltered between 1811 and 1818 (Library of Birmingham catalogue number MAP/14009).
11 Nb The change in colour from bright red sandy clay to darker reddish brown in Figure 6 was the location of a later drain which had cut through the cave and undermined the cone wall.
12 Hugh Willmott, A History of English Glassmaking AD 43–1800 (Stroud: Tempus, 2005).
13 Michael Cable, ‘The Development of Glass-Melting Furnaces 1850–1950’, Transactions of the Newcomen Society 71 (1999–2000): 205–27; Mick Krupa and Richard Heawood, ‘The Hotties’. Excavation and Building Survey at Pilkingtons’ No 9 Tank House, St Helens, Merseyside (Lancaster: Oxford Archaeology North, 2000).
14 Historic England, Archaeological Evidence for Glassworking (London: Historic England, 2018).
15 R. Holt, David Dungworth and Ric Tyler, ‘The Former Soho Glassworks, Lodge Road, Hockley, Birmingham: Building Recording and Excavation, 2008’, Transactions of the Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society 118 (2015): 65–98.
16 Apsley Pellatt, Curiosities of Glass Making (London: Bogue, 1848), 60.
17 S. Muspratt, Chemistry. Theoretical, Practical and Analytical (Glasgow: Mackenzie, 1860), 202.
18 Pellatt, Curiosities of Glass Making, 79.
19 The full results of the glass analysis can be found in the online Supplementary Material tab at: https://doi.org/10.1080/03090728.2023.2262231.
20 Cf David Dungworth, ‘Innovations in the 17th-Century Glass Industry: The Introduction of Kelp in Britain’, in Les Innovations Verrières et Leur Devenir, ed. Sophie Lagabrielle and Corine Maitte (Paris: Verre et Histoire, 2013), 119–23; David Dungworth, Patrick Degryse and Jens Schneider, ‘Kelp in Historic Glass: The Application of Strontium Isotope Analysis’, in Isotopes in Vitreous Materials, ed. Patrick Degryse, Julian Henderson and Greg Hodgins (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 2009), 113–30.
21 David Dungworth and Tom Cromwell, ‘Glass and Pottery Manufacture at Silkstone, Yorkshire’, Post-Medieval Archaeology 40 (2006): 160–90; David Dungworth, ‘The Value of Historic Window Glass’, Historic Environment 2 (2011): 21–48.
22 David Dungworth, Glassworking in England from the 14th Century to the 20th Century (London: Historic England, 2019).
23 Cf Dungworth, Glassworking in England, fig. 3.6.
24 Cf Reg Jackson et al., ‘Excavations on the Site of Sir Abraham Elton’s Glassworks, Cheese Lane, Bristol’, Post-Medieval Archaeology 39 (2005): 92–132.
25 David Dungworth, ‘The Value of Historic Window Glass’, Historic Environment 2 (2011): 21–48; David Dungworth, ‘Three and a Half Centuries of Bottle Manufacture’, Industrial Archaeology Review 34 (2012): 36–49.
26 Cf David Dungworth and Colin Brain, ‘Late 17th-Century Crystal Glass: An Analytical Investigation’, Journal of Glass Studies 51 (2009): 111–37; Holt, Dungworth, and Tyler, ‘The Former Soho Glassworks, Lodge Road, Hockley, Birmingham’.
27 Ian Miller, ‘Percival, Vickers & Co. Ltd: The Archaeology of a 19th-Century Manchester Flint Glass Works’, Industrial Archaeology Review 29 (2007): 13–29; Hugh Willmott, Ian Miller and Caroline Jackson, ‘Glass Recipes and the Output from a 19th-Century Glass Works: Examples from Percival, Vickers & Co. Ltd, Manchester’, Industrial Archaeology Review 34 (2012): 51–64.
28 Donna Strahan, ‘Uranium in Glass, Glazes and Enamels: History, Identification and Handling’, Studies in Conservation 46 (2001): 181–95.
29 Holt, Dungworth and Tyler, ‘The Former Soho Glassworks, Lodge Road, Hockley, Birmingham’; Miller, ‘Percival, Vickers & Co. Ltd’; Willmott, Miller and Jackson, ‘Glass Recipes and the Output from a 19th-Century Glass Works’.
30 Richard Gregory et al., ‘Exploring Bristol’s Historic Glass Industry: Archaeological Investigation at the Soap Boilers’ and Hoopers’ Glasshouse, and the Powell & Ricketts’ Bottle Works, Avon Street, Glass Wharf, Bristol’, Post-Medieval Archaeology 52, no. 2 (2018): 256–99.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Rachel Williams
Rachel Williams graduated from Southampton University with an MA in Social Archaeology in 2012. She has worked for Wessex Archaeology for over ten years where she has developed her interest in historical archaeology. Correspondence to: Rachel Williams, Wessex Archaeology, Portway House, Old Sarum, Wiltshire, SP4 6EB. Email: [email protected]
David Dungworth
Dr David Dungworth has worked in archaeology for nearly 30 years, initially with Sheffield University, and then with English Heritage and Historic England. Since 2017 he has provided consultancy services in the scientific study of early glass and metal industries. His publications include Glassworking in England from the 14th to the 20th Century (2019) and Accidental and Experimental Archaeometallurgy (2013, with Roger Doonan). Email: [email protected]