The history and archaeology of the Wear Flint Glass Works, Trimdon Street, Sunderland (1853–1877)

Journal article

Excavations undertaken in 2019–20 by Pre-Construct Archaeology (PCA) on the east side of Trimdon Street, Sunderland, revealed the remains of a facility first established by Nicholas French in 1853 as the Sunderland Flint Glass Works and renamed the Wear Flint Glass Works by the new proprietors James Angus and Henry Greener in 1858. Two furnaces, an annealing oven, and ancillary rooms were identified and these could be correlated precisely to structures included upon an Ordnance Survey plan published in 1859. A sizable assemblage of glass fragments and waste relating to the activities of the glass works was recovered during the excavation. All of the identifiable fragments of glass come from products of Angus and Greener. On Angus’s death in 1869 Greener continued to work at this site but left a few years later, probably after a legal dispute with Angus’s widow, to relocate the Wear Flint Glass Works to the well-known site at Lisburne Terrace, Millfield. The glass works were demolished during the late 1870s, with terraced housing built facing onto Trimdon Street and the land behind acquired by the neighbouring Trimdon Steel Works.

Authors: John, S

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne
• Journal: Archaeologia Aeliana
• Volume: 6
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 231-288
• Publication date: 2025-12-31
• Acceptance date: 2025-12-01
• EISSN: 0261-3417
• Language: English