Smethwick glassworks: Celebration to mark 200th birthday

A celebration has been held to mark 200 years since a famous glassworks opened.

At its peak, the Chance Brothers factory in Smethwick, West Midlands, employed 3,500 people before closing in 1981.

The glassworks was once famous for supplying all the glass for the Crystal Palace and specialist lenses to 2,000 lighthouses across the world.

A heritage trust has been working to put the site back into use.

It said celebrations would raise the profile of the history of the area and highlight the need for redevelopment.

The event at West Smethwick Park on Saturday included heritage and art displays and an antiques roadshow in which experts examined visitors' Chance memorabilia.

The Chance Heritage Trust said it wanted to show "how the Black Country town has played such a prominent role in British engineering and technology".

The trust's chair, Mark Davies, said the derelict state of the land was "a waste of one of the West Midlands' most historical sites" and his group has suggested it should be used for a new urban village.

"The dream is to create a modern-day urban village that can drive jobs, drive investment and become a tourist destination that we can all be proud of," he said.

John Montague, from the trust, stated: "The idea is how we mix culture, housing, work,... training, in a whole community."

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