Glaziers' Hollow, Delamere Forest, Cheshire: investigation and survey of a late medieval glassworking site

Abstract

In 2023, a gradiometer survey was conducted over two small areas of a medieval glassworking site known as Glaziers’ Hollow in Delamere Forest primarily to help identify the precise location of excavations conducted there in 1935 and 1947. This survey forms part of a larger project aimed at furthering the understanding of this scheduled monument in response to its current presence on the Historic England Heritage at Risk register. Over two days in June and another two days in November, a small team conducted the gradiometry survey alongside a suite of other non-invasive survey techniques. Results showed a focused cluster of magnetic anomalies that corresponded closely to previously unrecorded earthworks visible on the ground, as well as more modern disturbances and anomalies likely to be the location of the historic excavations. The signature of the readings is somewhat inconclusive as to the specific identification of a glassworking furnace or furnaces, but do suggest glassworking and associated activity close by, although results may be influenced by the amount of disturbance and potential overburden at the site.