Wear Flint Glass Works

Shown on Ordnance Survey second edition of 1897. Sunderland Flint Glassworks was set up by Nicholas French in 1852 on Trimdon Street (HER 2819). In 1858 the business was bought by Henry Greener and James Angus, and thence traded as Henry Greener, The Wear Flint Glassworks. After Angus' death in 1870 Greener built a new glasshouse at Millfield in 1873. After Greener's death in 1882 the company continued as Greener and Co. but faltered and was ultimately bought by James Augustus Jobling, a Newcastle merchant. Jobling's works were renmed the Wear Flint Glass Works. The factory comprised a large rectangular glass house with four square chimneys and one circular chimney or glass cone. The works had a direct link to the NER Penshaw Branch Line (HER 2659). By 1941 the Waer Glass Works expanded north, probably the result of Jobling obtaining the British licence for Pyrex in 1922 from the American firm Cornings. Jobling also made lenses for road vehicles. By 1969 the glass factory had expanded massively, obliterating Diamond Hall (HER 13173), the Queen Alexandra Bridge Branch Line, Wearside Pottery and other works. By the late 1970s the site expanded to its current size. This required the demolition of parts of Carol Street, Cornwall Street, Leopold Street, Medomsley Street and Alfred Street.