Bishopwearmouth Panns, Sunderland

[Mart 'n' Al]

Does this refer to salt pans? 

Martin

[stanmapstone]

Does this refer to salt pans? 

Martin

Yes

Stan

[stanmapstone]

Bishopwearmouth Panns derived its name from the salt panns that were established there by the Bowes family in the late 1580s. It was a little over six acres of land reclaimed from the river by embankment, and was a separate township within the parish. There are records of baptisms of children from the "Panns" in the 1570s, so there may have been salt production, on a small scale, before the Bowes family development.

Stan

[Mart 'n' Al]

Stan, thank you. My great great great grandfather was a butcher, living in North Durham Street, and I believe he had a shop in Coronation Street. The reference to the panns came up in my research.

Martin

[Spelk]

I believe the reason why they were there is that (for evaporating the seawater) they were able to use the poor quality and small coal which was not worth shipping for sale in London etc.

I expect the glass works at Sunderland was also partly for the same reason.

[Mart 'n' Al]

Where were they specifically, please?  Wouldn't glass blowing need really good coal?  (We visited the glassblowing centre last year, it was really impressive.)

Martin

[Gadget]

Where were they specifically, please?  Wouldn't glass blowing need really good coal?  (We visited the glassblowing centre last year, it was really impressive.)

Martin

I work with glass and visit the National Glass Centre in Sunderland regularly. Google has quite a lot on the history of glass making in Sunderland. For example:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-18340595


Added - from the above

The first stained glass to be produced in Britain was made in Sunderland by French craftsmen imported from Gaul in AD674. Benedict Biscop, Abbot of the new monastery at Wearmouth, invited them to make the windows for St Peter's Church.

[Nifty1]

One of the great things about this site is that you never know what you may find that may be of interest. This thread seems relevant to me because my paternal grandmother’s father, William F. Brown b. 1887, was a glassblower from Sunderland.

I was under the impression that the earliest stained glass used in England was in a church at Eton built in the 12c. I suppose one should not always believe what they read, or for that matter, rely too much on their memory.

[stanmapstone]

Where were they specifically, please?  Wouldn't glass blowing need really good coal?  (We visited the glassblowing centre last year, it was really impressive.)

Martin

See http://iiif.durham.ac.uk/index.html?manifest=https://iiif.durham.ac.uk/manifests/other/pip/pip-1813.json detailed map of Sunderland, Bishopwearmouth, Monkwearmouth, and the mouth of the River Wear. Landowners names given. Coal staithes and glass-works along the river are shown.

http://iiif.durham.ac.uk/index.html?manifest=https://iiif.durham.ac.uk/manifests/other/pip/pip-2180.json  plan and elevation for the Southwick Glassworks.

http://iiif.durham.ac.uk/index.html?manifest=https://iiif.durham.ac.uk/manifests/other/pip/pip-1969.json Southwick Bottle Works

http://iiif.durham.ac.uk/index.html?manifest=https://iiif.durham.ac.uk/manifests/other/pip/pip-2029.json Messrs. Hartley & Co.'s glass works Sunderland

There were 21 Sunderland Glass Works operating during 1780-1914. The Bishopwearmouth Panns Glasshouse was from c1696 to 1883.

Stan