English: An incomplete Post Medieval production tube for bead manufacture dating from the 17th century. The fragment is tubular in form with a barn red exterior with eight black stripes and a red-brown core. Similar tubes where found during the excavation of Sir Nicholas Crisp's (AD 1598-1666), bead manufacturing factory at Hammersmith Embankment.

Dimensions: length: 79.84mm; diameter: 18.33mm; weight: 39.38g

Karklins, Dussubieux & Hancock (2015) write "A number of European nations are known to have manufactured glass beads during the post-medieval period but until recently, England was not among them. This all changed when the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) conducted excavations at Hammersmith Embankment, a parcel of land on the east bank of the Thames in the Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, West London, which was to be developed as an office complex. Conducted in 2001 and 2005, the archaeological investigations revealed the remains of two brick furnaces with glass-encrusted crucible fragments and a large quantity of beadmaking wasters in association. Historical documentation and the recovered artifacts reveal that a glassworks for the manufacture of drawn glass beads had stood here during the second quarter of the 17th century. This is a very significant find as it represents the first recorded evidence for the manufacture of glass beads in England during the post-medieval period (Jamieson 2007:7-8).

What is now known as Hammersmith Embankment was the former site of Brandenburgh House, the private estate of Sir Nicholas Crisp (1598-1666), a wealthy London merchant (Figure 1) who was deeply involved in the West African trade. His involvement with the Company of Adventurers of London, better known as The Guinea Company, began in 1625; three years later Crisp owned a controlling interest in the company. In 1631, he and his partners were granted monopolies to conduct trade on the west coast of Africa from Cape Blanco (at the border between what is now Mauritania and Western Sahara) and the Cape of Good Hope. The company principally traded in ivory, hides, gold, redwood (for dyes), and slaves. Beads appear to have been an important commodity in this trade and around 1635, Crisp was granted a patent for "the making and vending of Glass beads and Beugles" (Jamieson 2007:8). Unfortunately, this endeavour was short lived as Parliament forced him to surrender these monopolies in 1640 (Jamieson 2006:11). Nonetheless, Crisp continued to be involved in the African trade for many years thereafter, but it is unknown if the production of beads at Hammersmith was ever revived.

Reference: Karklins, Dussubieux & Hancock 2015. A 17th-Century Glass Bead Factory at Hammersmith Embankment, London, England. BEADS: Journal of the Society of Bead Researchers, Volume 27, Article 5.