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Seaham Seaglass.

Seaham is located on the North-East Coast of the UK, approx. 13 miles east of Durham. Owned by John Candlish, the Glass Foundry there “Candlish Bottle Works” was built on the cliffs of Seaham in the 1850’s. It was one of the biggest glass producing factories and the largest bottling business in Europe. The factory made every colour of glass imaginable for many purposes; including every-day drinks bottles, decorative vases and medicine and poison bottles. Many of the Worlds rarest colours such as Red, Yellow and Opaque can be found here on the beach in Seaham.

Seaham Harbour Bottle Works, circa 1851 – 1921.

The most sought after glass in Seaham is often referred to as “End of Day” Glass. These pieces were formed when different colours of glass were used to make various products during the day, then the accumulated multi-coloured glass was thrown into the sea. Due to shortages in raw materials the factory closed in 1921, and was eventually demolished in the 1950’s. The Seaglass found in Seaham is over at least ninety years old making it extremely well frosted and popular to Seaglass collectors Worldwide.

My very own unique “End of Day” Seaham piece. Apologies, I’ll be keeping this one!!

The best time to search for Seaglass is about an hour after high-tide. If you time it well you can walk down the tide-line and find some of the larger, more rare pieces (as seen below). After this you can follow the tide as it goes out and reveals new treasures to find. We were there for roughly six hours a day in the most gorgeous weather. We used a car-park just outside of Seaham with free parking on the B1287. You can walk straight down to the beach from here and we found the best place to find the glass was directly below the car-park.

View from the End of Seaham Beach, with Sunderland Docks in the very background.

Me, searching for Seaglass with my appropriate “Celebrations Box”.

“End of Day” Seaham Seaglass – Cleaned and Polished.

Due to the rising popularity of the Beach in the past few decades the “End of Day” pieces and rare colours are becoming harder to find. The “End of Day” Seaglass pieces we found came in all shapes and sizes. I’d said before we went that I’d be happy to find even one piece of multi-coloured glass, so the fact we found near twenty was very exciting, including the pieces smaller than my fingernail. I find there is two ways of finding Seaglass: the pieces that stand out as you walk past, and digging for pieces beneath the pebbles and sand.

The larger pieces of Seaglass I found. One Red, One “End of Day” & One Very Pale Pink. Cleaned & Polished.

The local community is extremely friendly, often coming up to ask if you’ve found anything interesting or even giving you a few pieces they’ve found. As one Lady said to me: “I just can’t not pick it up.” The beach is dog-friendly so be prepared to make some new four-legged friends and for some wet hugs as they like to see what you’re up to.

Since getting home I have cleaned all of my Seaglass (see my previous blog post: https://rb-metal-sculptor.tumblr.com/post/159376818107/cleaning-drilling-seaglass-tutorial ) and organised them into different categories. I have polished a few pieces like the larger ones above I have drilled one piece so far to test the toughness. I shall post more regarding my progress in the upcoming weeks.

Previous Blogs:

Cleaning & Drilling Seaglass Tutorial: https://rb-metal-sculptor.tumblr.com/post/159376818107/cleaning-drilling-seaglass-tutorial

My Seaglass Adventure: https://rb-metal-sculptor.tumblr.com/post/158971778977/myseaglassadventure