The Glassworks Cone

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SK48NW 7/1

CATCLIFFE MAIN STREET (west side, off) The Glassworks Cone

29.3.68

I

Glass cone. c1740 for William Fenney. Dressed sandstone plinth wall, brickwork above. Immense cone approximately 20 metres high pierced by openings round its base and open at the top. On east and west sides, at present ground level, are brick archways now buried. Sloping plinth wall with band above. Springing from band are three large segmentally-arched openings; also set around base are three round-arched openings, two segmentally-arched doorways and four segmentally-arched windows.

Interior: floor concreted, no visible remains of central kiln.

William Fenney previously managed the Bolsterstone Glasshouse owned by his mother-in-law. The terms of her will prevented Fenney from setting up another glasshouse within 10 miles of Bolsterstone; Catcliffe is 10 1/2 miles to the south-east and its glassworks became one of four established in the first half of the C18 by Bolsterstone men. Eventually passed into the hands of Henry Blunn before its closure in 1884-1887; re-opened briefly in 1900. Excavation of the site in 1962 revealed details of the kiln and flue structures. The cone is the oldest surviving structure of its type in Western Europe and one of only four to remain in the U. K. Scheduled Ancient Monument.

G. Lewis, 'The Catcliffe Glassworks, Journal of Industrial Archaeology, 1964-65, vol 1, pp206-211.

Listing NGR: SK4254588614