History

Catcliffe Cone, aka the Kiln or Skittle Alley, was listed as a Grade I listed building in 1968.

The Kiln is all that remains of a glassworks built in 1740 by William Fenny, previously manager of a similar works at Bolsterstone, Sheffield.

A codicil in the will of his Mother in Law, Mary (Fox) Blackburn, owner of the Bolsterstone works, prevented William from setting up a glassworks within 10 miles of that location. Fenny overcame this obstacle by setting up his glass works at Catcliffe with the help of a Mr Chatterton and financial assistance of a Mr Westby.

The glassworks main products were window glass, flint glass and small bottles. Transportation of the fragile goods from Catcliffe may possibly have been downstream on the nearby River Rother. Then down the River Don into Yorkshire’s extensive network of major rivers, and into coastal shipping via the Humber Estuary.

There was a short revival of the glassworks from 1887 to 1900.

Various texts indicate the site was used during World War I to house prisoners of war, then in 1926, at the time of the General Strike, it acted as a children’s canteen. This has still to be verified.

It has also come to light that a second cone existed, to the south west of the present cone, together with various ancillary buildings attached to each cone.

The cone was threatened with demolition in the 1960s so the foundations of the other buildings that comprised the glassworks site were excavated in 1962 by Sheffield City Museum, which revealed details of the kiln and flue structures.

The research for this is ongoing.