Monument record 907/1 - Glaziers Hollow, Delamere Forest

<1> Newstead, R (Prof.), 1939, Records of Archaeological Finds II-V, p.32-39 (Article in Journal). SCH5702.

Discovered in 1934 by a farmer digging a hole for the foundations for a water-ram in an area known as Glaziers' Brook or Hollow. H.M. Forestry Commissioners required that any excavations were confined to narrow cuts between the lines of larch trees, which limited the investigations of 1935.

Window glass was found in a fair quantity over the area of the site. It was generally badly corroded and stained dark brown by contact with the soil. The glass has selvaged edges, indicating that it is hand blown, between 2mm and 5.5mm thick, and the surface is polished. Colour ranges from clear (pale green), blue, green, ruby, and pink.

Many fragments of the rims, sides and bases of crucibles were found, but none could be reconstructed. All appeared to be of a similar type with bulging sides, rounded and everted rims c.300-320mm in diameter. Generally of three fabric types. There were also quantities of possible waste metals, metal oxides, and materials used to colour the glass.

The red brick floor of a possible furnace was also discovered, however it wasn’t possible to investigate this feature further due to the close proximity of the trees.

A small quantity of pottery was recovered amongst the glass, which was considered to be characteristic of the fifteenth century. A coin c.1272-1307 was also recovered by forestry staff, this suggests an early fourteenth century date, however the pottery suggests a later fifteenth century date. There are documentary references to glassworks or glassworkers in the area from 1346-7 and circa 1280, but neither can be specifically tied to this site.

<2> Ridgway, M.H. & Leach, G.B., 1948, Further Notes on the Glasshouse Site at Kingswood, Delamere, Cheshire (Article in Journal). SCH9443.

Further investigation of the site in 1947 by members of Newstead's original excavation team. Excavations were limited by the trees, with trenches limited to a width of no more than eighteen inches (c.460mm) and only on one side of each tree. This did not prevent a larger are being investigated than in 1935 and it was possible to determine that the glass debris was confined to an area of thirty-six square feet.

No structural remains were found in situ. There was twelve to thirty inches (300-760mm) of soil containing debris from the glasshouse consisting of window glass, fragments of crucibles, stone coated with run glass, a little pottery and a few bones. In places the bottom eighteen inches was hard burnt clay containing similar debris, but this was not considered to be the remains of the floor.

A small quantity of charcoal was found on the east side of the site beneath the glasshouse debris. No explanation was found for the numerous fragments of hard grey freestone which had been coated on all sides with a deposit of molten glass.

Window glass was found in a fair quantity over the area of the site, including pot metal and flashed examples. The majority was light amber in colour, but other colours included blues, greens, reds and pinks. Notably, some painted glass and glass with grozed edges indicate that glass was also being recycled here. This glass is consistent with a fourteenth or fifteenth century date.

Numerous fragments of crucibles were recovered, including rim and base sherds, however no vessel could be reconstructed. The crucibles were twelve to thirteen inches in diameter, with everted rims, and glazed inside and out with a greenish or brown glaze, and of a hard grey clay fabric.

Fragments of three pottery vessels were recovered. The largest appears to be that of a bowl of hard buff yellow clay, having a pinkish slip-like coating and hard baked to grey inside. There are traces of greenish yellow glaze on the lip. A neck fragment from another vessel, probably a pitcher, of similar clay is coated on the outside with yellow glaze of good quality.

The lack of structural evidence suggest that this site is an area on which material from a glasshouse has been dumped. Date is still difficult to establish. The cullet glass is consistent with a fourteenth or fifteenth century date. The use of wood for furnace fuel was proscribed in the royal forest after 1615.

<3> Ordnance Survey, 1870-1982, Ordnance Survey Archaeological Record Card, SJ 57 SW 4 (Index). SCH2487.

A medieval glasshouse found in 1934 at Glazier's Hollow, about half a mile east of New Pale Farm. Excavated 1935 (see 1) and 1947 (see 2) when quantities of window glass were found, together with fragmentary pottery indicating a fourteenth - fifteenth century date. Part of what appeared to be a furnace floor was uncovered, and some crucibles and pot metal were found. There was very little charcoal and this suggests the site was a glass dump rather than a manufactory. A silver penny of Edward I was found - probably earlier than the site. [B.R.S. 30/07/1962].

At SJ 5320 7242 furnace debris was found just under the surface in sandy soil. [T.P.W. 23/06/1964].

SJ 5320 7242. Glass and crucible fragments from this site are in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. [T.P.W. 23/10/1980].

<4> Allen E & Daines R, 1627, Survey of Delamere Forest (Maps and Plans). SCH2112.

The site is depicted and named "Glassen House".

<5> Cheshire County Council, 1974, County Treasures Record, 4/IA.037 (Index). SCH1000.

Vale Royal Dist 4/AR 248.

<6> English Heritage, 1997, Monuments Protection Programme Industrial Monuments Assessment, Step 3 Reports: The Glass Industry, Vol.1, Cheshire 1 (Report). SCH3777.

<7> English Heritage, Various, Schedule Entry (Scheduled Ancient Monuments Amendment), 33880 (Scheduling Record). SCH2950.

The monument includes the earthworks and buried remains of a late medieval glass working site in Delamere Forest. The site was identified in 1933 and partially excavated during 1933-5. The excavations revealed a dense concentration of glass fragments including painted glass imported to the site as cullet (scrap glass for remaking). In addition a glazed brick floor was uncovered and this may be a part of the original furnace floor. Crucible fragments confirm the presence of glassmaking here. Building stone on the site and reused material in the field walls bears traces of spilled glass. Associated with these remains were sherds of fifteenth century pots and a silver penny of Edward I. The site was further examined by excavation in 1947 and the report concluded that the area of the glassmaking debris covered about twelve square metres, and that there were probably more remains to be discovered in the immediate vicinity. The excavators thought that the production of glass at this location was confined to window glass, both clear and coloured, and that the furnace was fired with wood from the forest around it. Work probably ceased here when the use of wood was forbidden by law in royal forests in about 1615. However, there is a plan of the forest dating to 1627, which marks this site as `Glassen House'.

<8> Fairhurst J M, 1988, A Landscape Interpretation of Delamere Forest, Appendix 8, p.XVI (Unpublished Report). SCH97.

Makes reference to a report to the Forestry Commission from Pilkington Glass Museum, 1972. On February 2nd 1971, Pilkington Glass Museum was given permission to excavate in Kingswood. The rest of this appendix appears to be notes which derive from Newstead's report (see 1).

<9> Crossley, D, 1993, Monuments Protection Programme Industrial Monuments Assessment, Step 1 Report: The Glass Industry (Report). SCH9445.

<10> University of Chester Department of History & Archaeology, 2024, Glaziers' Hollow, Delamere Forest, Cheshire: investigation and survey of a late medieval glassworking site (Report). SCH9661.

In 2023, a gradiometer survey was conducted over two small areas of Glaziers’ Hollow to help identify the precise location of excavations conducted there in 1935 and 1947. This survey forms part of a larger project aimed at furthering the understanding of this scheduled monument. In addition to the documented excavations in 1935 and 1947, it is reported that further excavations were carried out at the site by Ruth Hurst Vose in 1971 or 1972. A letter from the Forestry Commission in 1971 to the Pilkington Glass Museum documents permission to excavate at the site and lists some of the material that was found. However, there appears to have been some confusion about this intervention. Other research has revealed that Ruth Hurst Vose did not undertake any formal excavations but did dig ‘a few small holes’ with Canon Ridgway when trying to locate a furnace at the site in 1970. She reports that fragments of crucible, siege and glass were evident during their visit.

The gradiometry survey alongside topographic survey identified the site of the hydraulic ram and associated features which led to the original discovery of the site have been located (south of Area 1A). Also recorded was an area of earthworks near the centre of the scheduled area including a low, horseshoe-shaped mound, circa 11m in diameter and up to 0.4m high. It has a central, rectangular depression measuring 3.3m by 3.6m and 0.3m deep. However, it is not certain that the mound is related to glassworking and could instead have earlier origins. The gradiometer survey recorded a focused cluster of magnetic anomalies comprising at least eight distinct circular or irregular oval features, perhaps pits or postholes (A3-10); none of these anomalies are visible as earthworks on the surface. The signature of the readings is inconclusive as to the specific identification of a glassworking furnace or furnaces, but do suggest glassworking and associated activity close by, although results may be influenced by the amount of disturbance and potential overburden at the site. Additionally, the probable area of the earlier (1935, 1947) excavations has been narrowed down to within a circle of 23m radius and the hydraulic ram chamber at its centre; there are two possible locations of the trenches within that circle, depending on interpretation of the north arrow shown on the published excavation plan of 1948 (Ridgway and Leach, 1948). One of the two locations overlaps with magnetic anomalies detected at the southern end of Area 2B.