Soho Glassworks - Page 1 of 2SOHO GLASSWORKS, BIRMINGHAM
The construction of Birmingham's network of canals led to a boom in the glassmaking industry in the region during the 19th century. The most striking feature of glassworks of this period was the conical glasshouse cone, which acted as a giant chimney for the furnace and also enclosed the area in which the glassmakers worked, between the central furnace and the surrounding cone wall.
The Soho glassworks in Winson Green was built in 1805 next to the Soho Branch Canal, and came to be associated with some of the principal names of the Birmingham Glass Industry, including John Walsh Walsh, and for many years produced a wide range of high quality glassware. Originally there was just a single glasshouse, but a second cone was erected on the site around 1866 and the glassworks were substantially redeveloped during further expansion in the 1930s. The industry went into rapid decline following the Second World War, and the site was eventually purchased and redeveloped by the Ford Motor Company in 1952, when the majority of the glassworks was demolished. Redevelopment of the site in 2008 by Morris Homes provided Cotswold Archaeology with a rare opportunity to investigate the former glassworks.
A John Walsh Walsh letterhead showing the glassworks
