{"id":188,"date":"2017-12-12T18:38:28","date_gmt":"2017-12-12T18:38:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glast.heritech.co.uk\/?page_id=188"},"modified":"2018-02-19T17:38:18","modified_gmt":"2018-02-19T17:38:18","slug":"saxon-glass-working","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/glastonburyabbeyarchaeology\/digital\/the-saxon-churches-c-700-c-1100\/saxon-glass-working\/","title":{"rendered":"Saxon glass-working"},"content":{"rendered":"

The furnaces<\/h3>\n
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A selection of glass (photograph: C. Steele)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ralegh Radford excavated five glass furnaces in 1955-7 near the Saxon churches. The furnace floors provide unique evidence for early medieval glass-working in Britain. There were 262 associated objects. These included vessel and window glass, waste and crucible fragments, and production materials.<\/p>\n

The furnaces were oval-shaped with a stoke-hole at floor level. The furnace bases were made with reused Roman tiles. Some tiles show splashes of blue-green glass. The domed superstructure was made of daub (clay, dung and straw). They were used to melt glass before reworking. Experimental reconstructions suggest that they could sustain temperatures up to 1050 degrees C. View the animation below to see an example of a glass furnace from this period.<\/p>\n

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