The Earliest Records of Glassmaking in Medieval England: Evidence from Vale Royal Abbey, Cheshire

Medieval sources providing direct evidence of English glass manufacture are extremely unusual, yet an important group of late thirteenth and fourteenth-century references to glassmaking have hitherto been neglected by historians of the glass industry. These records relate to production by the Cheshire abbey of Vale Royal and contain unequalled information on the medieval industry, including describing the raw materials and fuel used in glassmaking, and recording the use of the glass produced. Furthermore, some of these records contain topographical information showing the locations of the Cheshire glass furnaces. One late thirteenth-century source refers to a 'glassworks', the site of which can be accurately located in Little Budworth. This is the earliest known record of English glass production. That the site referred to can be identified is exceptionally important, for no other medieval furnace sites in the country can be tied to documentary sources.