Excavations on the site of Sir Abraham Elton's glassworks, Cheese Lane, Bristol

Abstract

An archaeological excavation was conducted in 2001 on the site of the former lead works in Cheese Lane, Bristol on the east bank of the River Avon (National Grid Reference ST 5942 7291). Documentary research had shown that this was the location of a glassworks established during the 18th century by Sir Abraham Elton.It was found that little of Elton's glassworks had survived subsequent development. However, the excavation located the cone and other parts of a previously unknown glassworks operating during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. This is the earliest recorded Bristol glasshouse. Significant quantities of glass waste from the early glasshouse and Elton's later works were recovered and have been analysed.The excavation showed how the site had been reclaimed from a tidal riverbank by the construction of a river wall in the middle of the 17th century. Over the next three centuries a complex of industrial buildings was erected for the manufacture of glass, copper, spelter, zinc and lead.