Nailsea Glass: from
the Glass Encyclopedia

In the 18th century in Britain there was a heavy tax on Flint Glass for a hundred years until 1845. Excise men were employed by the Government to inspect the factories to make sure the tax was being paid, and factories had to choose whether they made Flint Glass (used for tableware and good quality glass items) or only bottle glass and crown (window) glass, which were not taxed. For a period glassworks in England were not allowed to make Flint Glass as well as non-flint glass.

This was a time of huge increases in demand for both windows and bottles, and many factories sprang up to meet the demand. The Nailsea glassworks was one of them, set up as the Nailsea Crown Glass and Bottle Manufacturers in Nailsea, near Bristol, in 1788.

Because of the heavy duty on Flint Glass, it was common practice for bottle factories to make tableware out of bottle or window glass, and to decorate it very simply with white dots or lines to make it more acceptable. The Nailsea Crown Glass and Bottle Manufacturers were one amongst many who made this kind of glass, and they gave their name to this style of glass, very little of which was actually made at Nailsea. It was made at bottle works all over the country.

Typical Nailsea-style items were flasks, jugs, bottles, mugs, vases, bowls, rolling pins, pipes, hats, and jars. Some Nailsea-style glassware is plain clear glass with a slight green tint; these items were made from Crown (window) glass. Others were made from bottle glass, in varying shades of darker green. Both these were styles of glass were often decorated with white or colored splashes or white lines, sometimes pulled or combed to give a feathered effect.

The term nailsea glass is often used to describe almost any glass item which has white lines that have been pulled or combed in this way.