Early Glassmaking
The first evidence of man-made glass dates back over 4000 years to Mesopotamia where archaeologists identified small glass beads. The ancient Egyptians were proficient glassmakers, making use of metals and metallic oxides to colour glass. They made glass using a method known as core-forming which was extremely labour intensive and very time consuming.

It was the Phoenicians who revolutionised the way we make glass. They discovered that you could take a blob of molten glass on the end of a hollow iron tube and 'blow' glass. These new skills were learnt by the Romans who in turn, introduced glassblowing throughout their substantial empire. It was the Romans who brought glassmaking to Bristol.

Glassmaking in Britain
There is little known about the history of glassmaking in Britain during the next one thousand years, although we do know that glassmaking survived as a trade. In early 2004, a Saxon burial chamber was unearthed in Prittlewell in Essex and amongst the artefacts buried with the early Saxon was a beautifully preserved and intact blue glass bowl.

Glassmaking underwent a renaissance in the13th and 14th centuries. The revival began in Venice (a city which is still thought of as the glass capital of the world) and spread throughout Northern Europe. It would have been very likely that all towns of any size would have had their own glassmaker.

In Britain, during the reign of James I, a law was passed which forbade the use of wood as a fuel for trades. The effect of this was that glassmakers, along with potters and other craftsmen who needed substantial amounts of fuel, had to move to areas where there were alternative fuel sources. Bristol was one such place, having mined coal in the wooded areas to the north of the city since Tudor times. Other areas were the Midlands (even today, Stoke on Trent is renowned for its potteries and Stourbridge for its glass), the North East (again Sunderland was a major centre for glass and today has the National Glass Centre) and London where some of the most well-known firms operated including Whitefriars.

Bristol’s Role
Bristol not only had a good supply of fuel but it had established trading links along the River Severn and out to the Atlantic and was second only to London in terms of economic importance. It also had easy access to other raw materials used in glassmaking such as sand from the Redcliffe Caves, kelp from Bridgwater, clay from further north along the Severn.

The city made very good use of its strategic importance and soon became one of the most important glassmaking centres in Europe. By the late eighteenth century there were some twenty glassmaking firms in Bristol. Most made crown (or window) glass or bottles but a good proportion made a beautiful range of flint glass tableware that was to become the city’s legacy. Flint glass is known today as lead crystal.

The Origins of Bristol Blue Glass
The late 1700s was a time of invention and social change – the industrial revolution had begun. In Bristol a merchant and potter named Richard Champion was using the technology of the glass furnaces to develop a recipe for making porcelain. Porcelain had been made in the Orient for many years before and was very highly prized and the demand for cups and saucers was unprecedented – with the import of tea from the East, hot drinks were being taken by the population at large for the first time in history.

Richard Champion succeeded in making porcelain and patented his invention. He was working in conjunction with a chemist, William Cookworthy and it was Cookworthy who began a search for good quality cobalt oxide to give the beautiful blue glaze decoration on the milky white porcelain. He found what it was he was looking for at the Royal Saxon Cobalt Works in Saxony and obtained exclusive import rights. All the cobalt oxide which came into Britain for the next 20 years was controlled by Cookworthy.

Nobody is exactly sure when Bristol Blue Glass was first made but we do know that the dazzling combination of the fine cobalt oxide with the recently invented lead crystal gave the most remarkable deep, rich blue – the like of which had never been seen before

Isaac Jacobs
The most celebrated maker of Bristol Blue Glass was Isaac Jacobs, whose father, Lazurus started their Nonsuch Flint Glass Manufactory in the 1780s. By the turn of the century the company held a royal warrant and were making glass for the aristocracy of Europe. Isaac was the first glassmaker in history to sign his work offering an undisputed provenance.

Ruby Glass
In 1851, Bristol’s glassmakers were invited to show their skills to the world at the Great Exhibition opened by Victoria and Albert. They made Ruby Glass for the very first time, using 24 carat gold to give the glass its delicious ruby tones.

The demise of the industry
Shortly after however, glassmaking in the city began its decline. The country was suffering an economic recession and one by one the glasshouses began to close.
In 1922, the very last one, Powell and Ricketts on Redcliffe Way closed its doors.

Bristol Blue Glass today
For most of the twentieth century there was little or no glassmaking in Bristol. In 1998 James Adlington revived Bristol Blue Glass and the rest is a living history. Today our glassmakers still make glass the way it was made over 300 years ago, in fact the tools and techniques have barely changed since Roman Times. Just as it was in the 1800s, Bristol Blue Glass is highly collectible and sought after. We are very proud of our glass and hope that you will share with us a little of the magic