The Glassworks Cone

The Glassworks Cone is a glass cone built around 1740 for William Fenney. It features a dressed sandstone plinth wall with brickwork above, and stands approximately 20 meters high. The cone has openings around its base and is open at the top. On the east and west sides, at ground level, there are brick archways that are currently buried. The sloping plinth wall has a band above it, from which spring three large segmentally-arched openings. Additionally, there are three round-arched openings, two segmentally-arched doorways, and four segmentally-arched windows set around the base.

Inside, the floor is concreted and there are no visible remains of the central kiln. William Fenney had previously managed the Bolsterstone Glasshouse owned by his mother-in-law, but due to the terms of her will, he was prevented from establishing another glasshouse within 10 miles of Bolsterstone. Catcliffe is located 10.5 miles to the southeast, and it became one of four glassworks set up by Bolsterstone men in the first half of the 18th century. The glassworks eventually came under the ownership of Henry Blunn before closing between 1884 and 1887, and it briefly reopened in 1900. Excavations in 1962 uncovered details of the kiln and flue structures. The cone is the oldest surviving structure of its kind in Western Europe and one of only four remaining in the UK. It is designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.