Monument record MDR7786 - Dixon's Glass Furnace (site of), Glasshouse Lane, Whittington

In the first decade of the 18th century (possibly c. 1704) Richard Dixon established a glass furnace or 'glass house' near Whittington common. Dixon, a known glassmaker, had a small factory at Bolsterstone prior to moving to Whittington. The glass house would have had a furnace cone, a melting shop and flues, and working areas. Maps of 1770 show the location of the glass house - and one map appears to show a three-storey tower structure and chimney. Although the precise location is uncertain, Metcalf's manuscript states that 'the glass-house or furnace were situate on the north side of the cottages a short distance west of Glasshouse Farm'. A sub-circular enclosure is visible on 19th century maps and English Heritage's Monuments Protection Programme site assessment in 1996 regarded this feature as the putative site of the furnace. This location is now occupied by a mobile home residential site. (1) A Richard Dixon is listed in 1710 at Bolsterstone as a glassmaker with a band of men to assist him. The site of Dixon's 'glasshouse' is listed to be where Rob Lane met the north-west corner of Mouse Park Wood. The area had ample access to water (presumably for steam power), along with the apparent derilict remains of a steam engine somewhere in the vicinity. To cope with the demand upon Dixon for cut glass required by the Sheffield Plate Craftsmen, more sophisticated manufacturing processes than blown-glass were implimented, and a further glasshouse or furnace was built on the north side of the cottages. It is possible that the glasshouse had a railway line connecting it to the North Midland line at Whittington Station, though this would have been only for a short time considering that the works closed in 1850, 10 years after the opening of the railway line. Instead, the canal would have been utilised more often and for a longer period. (2)