In the London Gazette on 27th February 1693/4, Francis Jackson and
John Straw advertised that they had "Glass Houses near the Faulkon in
Southwark and at Lynn in Norfolk " for making "the best and finest
drinking glasses...". There had been local opposition to erecting at
least one of these three glass houses (two of the three were in St
Saviour's (St Mary Overies) parish, but there was also a cone
'bottle' glass house set up by Jackson & Straw slightly to the
west) for on 12th August 1688 King James was petitioned "to hear all
parties concerned, of the petition of the inhabitants of the parish
of Christ Church, Co Surrey, showing that they are informed that one
John Straw and others are erecting glass houses in the middle of the
parish to the utter ruin of many of the inhabitants whose livelihood
depends upon washing and to the annoyance of several gentlemen who
have paid out large sums of money upon their gardens for health and
recreation, and praying his Majesty to put a stop to the erection of
such glass houses till they be heard". This was clearly unsuccessful,
but it was not long before Jackson himself (eventually with more
success) was involved in petitions when he gave evidence to
Parliament against the imposition of a 'war tax' on glass in 1695.
There appears to have been three 'drinking' glass houses at the time
of the Jackson & Straw advert. The earliest was probably that at
the northern end of glass house yard. A second, adjacent to it, was
built on the site of a cockpit that was described as new in 1684.
These two were later amalgamated to form the single glass house,
shown in Glasshouse Yard on the map below. The third glass house was
closer to the Falcon Inn and is shown around Jackson's Court on the
map below. This one later developed into the famous 19th Century
Falcon glass house of Apsley Pellat. It has recently been excavated
and initial analysis suggests that the furnace used was similar to
that shown on the 'Pioneering Glassmaking' page. However, it will be
a little while before analysis of the site and finds is completed.
Note the large coal wharf shown on the map on the side of the Thames,
presumably to feed the four adjacent glass-houses, confirming the use
of coal-firing that gave rise to the petition. In 1692 Robert Hookes
and Christopher Dodsworth and their shareholders bought-out a number
of London glass houses, including "two in Southwark making flint
glass". These were probably the two in Glasshouse Yard, in which case
their tenure was short-lived. It is interesting to note that a Thomas
Bristow married Ann Jackson at Southwark St Olaves in October 1691.
This is probably another example of marrying within glass making
families, because Francis Bristow was a noted glass maker at
Greenwich earlier in the century. The Jackson family are recorded at
the same Southwark church from 1643 and Francis Jackson was said to
have worked at the Stony Street glass house before starting his
partnership with Straw. Two members of the Holmes family were
recorded as Fathers in the near-by Christ Church. These were John
(& Margaret) in 1691 and Will in 1695. One of the Racket glass
making family, Julius Cesar Racket had four of his children
christened in the nearby Christ Church between 1700 and 1708 and thus
probably worked here. One reference states that sealed glasses were
being made at a Falcon glass house in 1683, but no source for this
information is given.
The relevant area from 1746 Map. It is not clear when these glass houses were built, but it might have been for one of these that the "Stones for a furnace" shipped from Newcastle to London in 1685/6 were destined.