Red House Glass Cone
Red House Glass Cone in Wordsley is one of the West Midlands’ most striking industrial survivors: a 90‑foot brick cone completed in 1794 for window‑glass production, today one of only four complete cones left in the UK. Its vast interior once acted as a furnace chimney, drawing heat through underground flues while glassworkers laboured around the roaring kiln. Inside, the Stuart Crystal Gallery displays elegant cut glass and memorabilia from the famous local firm, which used the cone until 1936. The site also preserves the world’s only surviving moving lehr—an ingenious 18th‑century mechanism for cooling glass slowly and evenly. Around the cone, visitors can explore independent craft studios where glass artists, jewellers, potters and textile makers work, along with a café and gift shop. The museum offers free entry, family trails, workshops and guided tours, making it an accessible stop for all ages. Set beside the Stourbridge Canal on the historic “Crystal Mile,” the cone stands within a landscape once rich in fireclay and coal—materials that powered the region’s glassmaking boom. Today it remains a vivid reminder of the Black Country’s industrial heritage and a fascinating place to spend one to two hours discovering traditional craft and local history.
Stourbridge United Kingdom
The Red House Glass Cone stands in the heart of the Glass Quarter in Wordsley, just outside Stourbridge in the West Midlands. The address is Red House Glass Cone, High Street, Wordsley, Stourbridge DY8 4AZ. It is right by the Stourbridge Canal on the main A491, and it is one of only four glass cones left in the whole UK. Built at the end of the 18th century, it is a huge brick cone where Stuart Crystal used to make glass until the 1930s, and today it is run as a free museum with live glassblowing and craft studios inside. It is a great base for exploring the Black Country. Right in the same area you have the Stourbridge Glass Museum and the Ruskin Glass Centre, both dedicated to the famous glass heritage, with workshops and collections you can wander through. A short drive brings you to Dudley Zoo and Castle, where a medieval castle ruin sits inside a zoo, and the Black Country Living Museum, a 26 acre open air village with old streets, shops and a mine. You also have Himley Hall and Park, the former stately home of the Lords of Dudley with big parkland, Wightwick Manor and Gardens, a beautiful Victorian manor, and the Dudley Canal and Caverns for an underground boat trip.