The Red House Cone is a

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

glass cone A glass cone is a glass production structure historically unique to the United Kingdom. A glass cone had a large central furnace, a circular platform where the glassblowers worked, and smaller furnaces around its wall to ensure the glass did not c ...

located in

Wordsley Wordsley is a suburban village near Stourbridge in the West Midlands, England. It is part of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley and is north of the River Stour. Wordsley is part of the Kingswinford and South Staffordshire Parliamentary constitu ...

in the West Midlands, adjacent to the

Stourbridge Canal The Stourbridge Canal is a canal in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It links the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal (at Stourton, Staffordshire, Stourton Junction, affording access to traffic from the River Severn) wi ...

bridge on the A491 High Street. It is a high conical brick structure with a diameter of , used for the production of glass. It was used by the Stuart Crystal firm till 1936, when the company moved to a new facility at Vine Street. It is one of only four complete cones remaining in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It is one of four such structures in the UK and is currently maintained as a

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

Dudley Dudley ( , ) is a market town in the West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically part of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. In the ...

Council. (The other three cones are at

Lemington Lemington is an area and electoral ward in the West End of Newcastle upon Tyne in North East England. History Lemington has a strong industrial history. It is famous for its brick glassworks cone, built in 1787. The River Tyne used to pass ...

Catcliffe Catcliffe is a village and civil parish on the north-west bank of the River Rother in South Yorkshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 2,108. It is in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, approximately sout ...

and

Alloa Alloa (Received Pronunciation ; Scottish pronunciation /ˈaloʊa/; , possibly meaning "rock plain") is a town in Clackmannanshire in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It is on the north bank of the Forth at the spot where some say it ceases to ...

). At the site are 10 businesses including glass artists, pottery, jewellers, textiles fine art and demonstrations of

glass blowing Glassblowing is a glassforming technique that involves inflating molten glass into a bubble (or parison) with the aid of a blowpipe (or blow tube). A person who blows glass is called a ''glassblower'', ''glassmith'', or ''gaffer''. A '' lampworke ...

along with a Coffee House and gift shop. A site, on which the cone stands, was sold by John and Ann Southwell and Rebecca Stokes to Richard Bradley, a wealthy glass-manufacturer, on 21 June 1788. The cone was built by Bradley in partnership with his brother-in-law, George Ensell, for the manufacture of window glass. Ensell installed a moving lehr in the cone, which remains today and is the only surviving one in the world. The cone received Grade II* listed building status on 23 September 1966. In April 2022, the Cone received a pledge of £1.5m from

Dudley Council Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council, also known as Dudley Council, is the Local government in England, local authority for the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The town of Dudley had been a B ...

in order to restore the structure. The restored cone was opened to the public in August 2024.

Representation in the media

The Red House Cone was featured in an episode of

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

Great British Railway Journeys ''Great British Railway Journeys'' is a 2010–present BBC documentary series presented by Michael Portillo, a former Conservative MP and Cabinet Minister who was instrumental in saving the Settle to Carlisle line from closure in 1989. The d ...

, in the episode Sarah Cordingley taught

Michael Portillo Michael Denzil Xavier Portillo ( ; born 26 May 1953) is a British journalist, broadcaster, and former Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician. His broadcast series include railway documentaries such as ''Great British Railway Jou ...

how to make a

lampwork Lampworking is a type of glasswork in which a torch or lamp is used to melt the glass. Once in a molten state, the glass is formed by blowing and shaping with tools and hand movements. It is also known as flameworking or torchworking, as the mod ...

bead.

References

External links

Red House Cone
- official site {{coord, 52.476168, -2.157235, region:GB, display=title Museums in the West Midlands (county) Buildings and structures in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley Grade II* listed buildings in the West Midlands (county) Glass museums and galleries Art museums and galleries in the West Midlands (county) Contemporary crafts museums Stourbridge Kingswinford