Chapter XXXVII: Section V: Glass and Earthenware Manufactures

The manufacture of glass was introduced into Scotland early in the seventeenth century, as noticed in the third volume.¹ But this useful and indispensable industry was for long hampered by the imposition of a duty on the manufactured glass, which was not finally repealed until 1845. There are various kinds of glass: (1) The common bottle glass; (2) the cheap, broad or spread window glass; (3) crown glass or window glass, formed in discs or large circular plates, and this variety is peculiar to Britain; (4) flint glass, crystal glass, or glass of lead; (5) plate or fine mirror glass. But only two of these kinds are made to any extent in Scotland――flint glass and bottle glass.

¹ Mackintosh’s _History of Civilisation in Scotland_, Volume
III., pages 315‒16.

The principal flint glass manufacture is in Edinburgh, in the Canongate, and has been long known as the Holyrood Glass Works, which were commenced by Mr. Ford about the opening of this century. There are two furnaces in the works, which contain 22 pots; and the furnaces consist of large cones of brickwork, which are pierced with a series of openings corresponding to the number of pots in each. In the centre of each cone a great fire is kindled, and the flames and heat from it are drawn through flues and brought into contact with the pots, which are arranged round the interior of the wall. The pots are made of a particular kind of clay, which can withstand intense heat without cracking or giving off any matter that would be injurious to the glass. The pots do not last long, and require to be frequently renewed. The removing of a broken pot and the insertion of a new one is an extremely difficult and trying operation; besides the waste of the pots, the furnace itself requires to be entirely reconstructed at the end of nine or ten years.

The pots for making bottle glass are open, and the flames and smoke come into contact with the “metal;” in the case of flint glass this arrangement would not suit, as the smoke would spoil the purity of the glass, and the flint glass pots are made so as to prevent direct contact between the “metal” and the fire. “The pots are charged every Saturday morning. Each contains about 18 hundredweight of glass, the ingredients for which are put in gradually as the fusion proceeds, from twelve to fifteen hours being required to complete the charging. Though the ingredients become melted in that time, the ‘metal’ is not in a fit state for working owing to the presence of air bubbles, which can be got rid of only by urging the furnaces to its utmost intensity, and maintaining it there at from thirty to forty hours, the mouths of the pots being sealed during that time. The glass is ready for working by an early hour on Monday morning. There are two sets of workmen, who relieve each other every six hours, and the work goes on constantly from Monday until Friday. The weekly consumption of coal is about twenty tons to each furnace.

“Under the intense heat to which it is subjected, in order to get rid of the gaseous bubbles, the glass becomes nearly as fluid as water, and in that state could not be worked. Before the blowers begin operations the temperature of the pots is lowered until the ‘metal’ assumes the consistency of treacle. The tools used by the workmen are exceedingly simple.... Owing to the peculiar nature of the material the formation of articles in glass depends more upon the skill, the expertness, and tact of the manipulator than upon the employment of complicated appliances. The surface of the glass would be spoiled by a free use of metal tools, and almost the only implements employed are composed of charred wood. The operations of the glass-blowers are probably the most wonderful in the whole range of the arts, no manipulation of the conjurer being more mysterious to one who witnesses them for the first time.”¹

¹ _Industries of Scotland_, by D. Bremner, pages 378‒379.

There are upwards of 200 persons employed at the Holyrood Glass Works. There are six or seven flint glass and eight bottle manufactories in Scotland. The value of the glass exported in 1861 was £62,140, and in 1867, £106,555. The chief centres of the glass manufacture are Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Leith; and, in 1871, there were 2020 persons employed in it, and of this number 88 were females. In 1891 there were 2084 hands employed in glass manufacture.

The art of glass engraving is also carried on in Scotland, though only since a recent date. The firm of Messrs. Millar & Company, of Edinburgh, has attained distinction since the Exhibition of 1862; and they have shown some fine and beautiful specimens of this branch of art.

Glass painting has been revived in Scotland in the present century. The firm of Messrs. Ballantine, of Edinburgh, has been long well known for the excellence of its work in this branch of art. About fifty years ago Mr. Ballantine was selected by the Fine Arts Commission to execute the windows in the new House of Lords; and he did much to promote the improvement of glass painting in Scotland. Painted glass is now pretty extensively used in public buildings, churches, and in some of the houses of the wealthy class. This art has reached a high degree of elaboration, and specimens of it may he seen throughout the country which exhibit fine taste and skill in execution.

It was shown in the third volume¹ that there were no earthenware works in Scotland in 1703; and one of the earliest potteries was established at the Broomielaw, Glasgow, in 1748. Glasgow is still the chief centre of this manufacture; Edinburgh and Kirkcaldy come next. The largest Glasgow pottery is that of Messrs. Bell & Company, which covers upwards of three acres of ground. This firm has devoted much care and attention to the higher departments of the art, and has produced some fine work. There is a wide field afforded for the exercise and display of artistic taste and elaboration in the decoration of porcelain; and both in form and colouring many of the productions of this firm are very beautiful. They employ upwards of 800 persons.

¹ Page 317.

In 1871, there were fourteen potteries in Scotland, and there were about 4000 persons employed in this manufacture. In 1891 there were 4,128 hands employed.

In 1871, there were 123 manufactories of brick, tiles, clay pipes, and articles of a similar description, which were spread throughout the country. The largest work of this kind is at Garnkirk, about six miles east from Glasgow, on the side of the Caledonian Railway. At this establishment there is an extensive manufactory of glazed fireclay sewage and water pipes. Works in terra cotta are also produced at Garnkirk. There are about 300 men and boys employed, and 200 tons of clay are used daily at the works. In 1891 there were 5000 persons employed in connection with this useful industry.