Verreville Glassworks was established on the north bank of the River Clyde in the village of Finnieston in 1777. Glass making was discontinued in 1842. The buildings of the works, including the 120 feet high glasshouse cone, were converted into a pottery works which remained in production until 1918.
In addition to a rich historical and documentary archive, evidence for the operations and technology of these industries was gained from excavations in 2005. The archaeological excavation, carried out by Headland Archaeology uncovered several buildings and structures relating to both the glass and the pottery works.
Historical background
The Verreville Glassworks was established by a group of Glasgow merchants in 1777. Workmen were brought from England and Germany to build the cone, a major Glasgow landmark of its day, which reached a height of 120 feet. The company amalgamated with the Glasgow Bottlework Company in c. 1786 and in 1806 the business was sold to the Dumbarton Glass Company. The new business was immediately sold to John Geddes, on the condition that he did not make window glass or bottles.
John Geddes founded the ‘Glasgow and Verreville Glass and Pottery Company’, which quickly established itself and developed an export trade to North America and Ireland. However, pottery production was a very competitive market and Geddes was soon declared bankrupt. In 1830 the pottery was taken over by Robert Montgomery, a former manager. Montgomery’s involvement with the pottery was short-lived and by 1833 he too was declared bankrupt. The glassworks were closed in 1834.
The glassworks and John Geddes’ house and grounds (Verreville House) were bought by Robert Alexander Kidston who was a partner in the nearby Anderston Pottery (often called Lancefield Pottery). By this time the pottery had two earthenware kilns and one china kiln. Kidston tried to raise the quality of the products - he added the production of porcelain, imported Staffordshire workers and extended the works into the grounds of Verreville House – but by 1841 he himself was in financial trouble and the firm was taken over by a consortium, one of whom was Robert Cochran, whose family later owned the much larger Britannia Pottery in Glasgow. Glassmaking appears to have ceased production in 1842 and a number of small pottery kilns were built inside the original glassworks cone. Only white and earthenwares were being made by this time. The Cochran family remained in charge of the pottery until its eventual closure in 1918.
Archaeological Excavations
The Headland excavations in 2005 revealed several features related to three major phases of development: glass manufacturing activity (c. 1777 – mid-1840s), pottery manufacturing phase (late 1840s – c. 1859) and the later pottery works (after c. 1859 – c. 1918).
Glass Manufacturing Activity
The Glassworking Cone
The earliest phase of activity identified on site was associated with the production of glass. Evidence for the glass cone structure was identified by four evenly spaced brick built piers. These were constructed of hand made red bricks and formed a half circle in plan. It is probable that this is the remains of the northern half of the original octagonal glass cone structure built in 1777. These piers possibly supported an arcaded external wall, allowing access to the interior of the glass cone.
Leading into the central area of the ‘glass cone’ was a series of flues. The largest was constructed of hand made red brick with a vaulted ceiling. The interior of the brick was blackened by soot and the floor was blackened natural sand, which contained a large quaintly of broken glass or cullet. These flues would have pulled cold air into a central (unidentified) glass furnace, obliterated by the post-1920s buildings.
The Glassworking Hovel
The sub square building (hovel), which housed the glass cone was only identified by one wall during the excavation. Two lengths of hand made red brick wall, interpreted as the original northern wall of the hovel were excavated. Truncated by later stone pillar bases the fragmentary walls were upstanding to a height of approximately 2 m. The western wall fragment had a remains of a double archway – possibly an original entrance into the glass cone.