52 M. S. D. Westropp on 



In March, 1784, the crown glass and bottle manufacturers of 

 Dublin petitioned Parliament against a duty on sand, stating that 

 they were obliged to import fire-clay and sand, as there had not 

 been any of either kind yet discovered in the kingdom sufficiently 

 fine, and that for some time sand was not considered as merchandise, 

 but came as ballast, but of late years the Customs officers had 

 insisted that both clay and sand must be entered and an ad valorem 

 duty paid. 



In John Angel's A General History of Ireland, published in 

 1781, it is stated that "there is recently discovered at Ballycastle 

 a stratum of clay over the coal, which is found to be as strong in 

 the glass-house pots as the clay of Stourbridge, and to endure the 

 heat as well." This clay may have been used in the Ballycastle 

 glass-house, but probably not generally in Ireland. 



Great care must be taken in the selection of the sand for good . 

 flint glass, as the slightest impurities will cause the metal to become 

 discoloured. Indeed, in glass-making generally, the utmost 

 cleanliness in the materials, the mixing, and the pots, must be 

 observed. Constant attention must also be paid to the fire and 

 the metal, thousands of pounds worth of glass having been lost 

 through the carelessness of workmen. 



The patterns on Irish and English cut glass, and also the 

 shapes of the various objects, are very similar, which may be 

 accounted for by numbers of the workmen in Irish glass-houses 

 being Englishmen. It has been seen that both Cork and Waterford 

 started with complete sets of English glass-makers, and also that 

 the proprietors of several of the Dublin glass-houses, and of those 

 of Drumrea and Belfast, were Englishmen. 



In 1785 it was stated that three-quarters of the workmen in 

 the glass-houses in Ireland were emigrants, chiefly from England, 

 and that the masters of four of the glass-houses were Englishmen, 

 From these facts it may be implied that English styles, both in 

 form and cutting, were introduced into Ireland. 



Diamond-cut glass is mentioned as having been imported 

 into Ireland from England in 1747, but it was probably not until 

 somewhat later that much cutting was employed on Irish fiint 



