The Chandos Glass Cone in

Bridgwater Bridgwater is a large historic market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. Its population currently stands at around 41,276 as of 2022. Bridgwater is at the edge of the Somerset Levels, in level and well-wooded country. The town lies alon ...

, in the English county of

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, was built in 1725 as a kiln for a glassworks. The remains have been scheduled as an ancient monument. After a short period of use for

glassmaking Glass production involves two main methods – the float glass process that produces sheet glass, and glassblowing that produces bottles and other containers. It has been done in a variety of ways during the history of glass. Glass container ...

the kiln was converted to the production of pottery, bricks and tiles, which undertaking continued until 1939. Most of the cone of brickwork was demolished in 1943. The bottom has been preserved.

History

The cone was constructed by

James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos, (6 January 16739 August 1744) was an English landowner and politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons from 1698 until 1714, when he succeeded to the peerage as Baron Chandos, and vacated ...

as part of an industrial development close to the

River Parrett The River Parrett flows through the counties of Dorset and Somerset in South West England, from its source in the Thorney Mills springs in the hills around Chedington in Dorset. Flowing northwest through Somerset and the Somerset Levels to it ...

, which enabled the transport of raw materials from his other enterprises at Stourbridge. Local sand was used. The cone was in use for

for but a short time. The business struggled almost from the start and was mismanaged by the Duke's local agents, who were declared bankrupt in 1728. Glass-making ceased in 1734 and then, after several years in which the cone was used as an iron foundry, it became a pottery works with three kilns installed within the cone. Between 1827 and 1939 bricks and tiles were produced in addition to pottery. In the 1870s a railway siding was built between the local and the pottery, which included the construction of the Telescopic Bridge. The kiln was last used in 1939, and most of the structure was demolished in 1943, after the brickwork at the top of the cone had been found to have "spread". The bricks from the demolished cone were reused in the construction of runways at

RAF Merryfield Royal Air Force Merryfield or more simply RAF Merryfield (also known as Isle Abbotts) is a former Royal Air Force station in the village of Ilton near Ilminster in southwest Somerset, England. The airfield is located approximately north of ...

and RAF Weston Zoyland. Some of the pottery and glass found during an excavation of the site in the 1970s is on display at the Blake Museum in Bridgwater. In 2007 a plan was submitted to rebuild the cone in glass and steel as a visitor attraction.

Architecture

The cone was high and across at the base, however the surviving portion is only high. The cone tapered into a bottle shape which was much narrower at the top than at the base to provide a natural draft through the structure.

References

{{coord, 51.1315, -3.0039, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Companies based in Bridgwater Scheduled monuments in Sedgemoor Defunct glassmaking companies Bridgwater Commercial buildings completed in 1725 1725 establishments in Great Britain