Moran, Anna (2011) From factory floor to fine dining : making, selling and using glass in Ireland, c. 1730 - c. 1830. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

Abstract

Glass is one of the world’s oldest artificial materials. Nonetheless new developments in the late seventeenth century turned this very ancient material into a modern one. With the successful introduction of lead came clarity, lustre and strength. From sand, lead and ash, therefore, came a material which could be blown, moulded, left plain, cut or engraved. It was encountered by virtually all sectors of society, by some in taverns, public houses and on the streets, and by others in ballrooms, dining rooms, parlours and elegant bedrooms. Using extensive primary research - drawing on designs used in the glass industry, newspapers, Parliamentary Papers, letters, diaries and household inventories - this study investigates the socio-political, economic, cultural, technological and legislative factors which shaped the experience of producing, selling, buying and using glass in Ireland. It takes as its focus the century long time span between c. 1730 and c. 1830, thereby capturing the rise and decline of the glass industry in Ireland, and investigates the role of the State, the entrepreneur and the consumer in determining the nature of the market. The ways in which molten glass was worked and transformed into the transparent conveniences and pleasures of everyday life were crucial to the appeal of glass. Once manufactured, skills of a different nature were used by retailers to market and sell the various glass products available, whilst another set of skills again was drawn upon in polite society in knowing what glass to buy, the appropriate way to hold a drinking glass, its correct use while dining, and the significance of raising one’s glass in a toast. Addressing these and other issues, this thesis presents for the first time, an integrated study which deepens our understanding of the production, retail and consumption of this important material. In so doing, a rich and layered story of the Irish glass industry is presented, providing a cultural, social and political framework within which to consider the making, selling and use of glass in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Ireland.

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