A Glass Souvenir

Tutbury Glass

I'd like to share a glass souvenir with you -- a piece of Tutbury glass probably from the turn of the 1900s or earlier. Because I visited the glass works (Georgian Crystal) , by chance and just before it closed my appetite was whetted! Even more so as I didn't realise that a few weeks later it would be gone for good.

Such souvenirs by their very nature don't seem to last through the ages. This entry is a glass so was less likely to survive though you can appreciate my frustration at my inability to photograph it for you. Glass is very difficult to photograph! It is a souvenir from Tutbury and shows 'the apartments' of Mary Queen of Scots at Tutbury Castle where she was first imprisoned in 1569. At this time the castle was run down, damp and windy and her second warder, Sir Amyas Paulet, made her life very difficult if not unpleasant. She hated him.

Tutury in Stafordshire, between Uttoxiter and Burton on the A50, seems to have been involved in glass making since Roman times and it may be that the Romans taught the Saxons the art. Well, if you conquer a country why do it yourself. A similar scenario could be applied to beekeeping. and although beekeepers the Romans left the Anglo-Saxons to it using their own methods.

Tutbury glass making was certainly established by 1472 as the glass maker (and poacher) Thomas Wakelyne is in the records for that date. In these early days the Needwood forest was close at hand but this has disappeared because it is surmised a lot of its wood was use for firing glass furnaces.

Move on to 1836 when Henry Jackson built a glass factory covering 12 acres. A serious business and Tutbury became renowned for its fine cut crystal glass. Moving on to 2011. Because my daughter lives close to Tutbury I visited the village really to go to an antique's shop there. However, wondering around the 'back areas' I came across Georgian Glass, a small place, but went in. Little did I know that a month later the shop and furnaces would be closed.

The glass furnace, though not lit, was still warm and at the behest of the lady at the counter I wondered over the upper stories filled with of shelves of dusty glassware. I bought four small pieces. I picked my way around the shelves looking at glassware some slightly chipped others not. A solitary man was cutting glass on a wheel having first outlined the pattern with a wax pencil, possibly finishing a commissioned order.

About four months later I revisited Tutbury especially to go to Georgian glass and seriously buy glassware. The little factory was boarded up, it had closed -- I was too late. The cost of fuel had apparently risen from £500/month to £1,300 and the price of acid had doubled. No small business can withstand such increases in overheads.

A note on the glass in the photos. It is 14.4 cm high and the bowl diameter is 8.4 cm. One side of the glass has the South Tower on it. It is remarkably accurate considering the ephemeral nature of the work.