When the diarist Samuel Pepys visited a glass house with his 'cozens' on the way home from the Duke of York's playhouse on 23rd February 1669/70, it was almost certainly this one at Blackfriars. It was in the area destroyed by the fire of London in 1666, so may then have been newly opened. It was probably one of the "Two new furnaces lately opened for very fine large crystal" mentioned by Alberti the Venetian secretary in London in September 1673 and one of the four he cited in February 1673/4. In 1669 Mr Burroughs was mentioned in a petition against the import of Venetian Mirrors. In 1674 John Burroughs was a signatory on the Indenture of agreement between the London Glass Sellers Company and George Ravenscroft for the supply of the new flint glass, and he was master of the Glass Sellers Company from 1681-2. He presented the company with a silver cup in September 1687. It is probable that this is referred to as 'the glasshouse' by Robert Hooke when he notes in his diary visiting it in November 1672 and October 1678.
On this 1676 map, k62 is Glass House Yard.
Same area from 1746 map, but note the larger yard, which may mean the glass house had gone by this date.
Late seventeenth century trade card from the glass house. from "Early 18th-century English Glass" by Frank Davis, Country Life 1971. The shape shown on the trade card and the semi-circular outline on the 1676 map suggest that the glass house was similar in shape to that at the Minories and at Kings Lynn.
This glass house may well have been on the site of one of the earliest glass house established in London. This was set up by Sir Jerome Bowes on land owned by Sir George Moore in 1596. The glass house worked until at least 1614, when William Robson agreed to close it down as a result of a court case. It was still called the glass house in 1630, when it was the subject of more legal action and then it was being leased by a John Williams, though it is not clear if he was making glass there. The glass house was apparently furnished with its own supply of fresh water, but it is not clear whether this was a necessary part of glass making or a historical accident associated with the site. Special thanks to Christopher (Hap) Freeman for bringing this aspect of his family's history to my attention. There are also references to the glass house in 1635.