W. White Co Clay Pipe from Glasgow found...

[Blackhorse]

Goes to show that a 13 year old thread can still have interest and relevance. Good fer you guys!

 

[5star]

Ancient thread but it got my attention. I’m a big fan of clay pipes.

 

[Blackhorse]

Good info is always of value.

 

[SurerRain20]

Hey there, I had a similar find as well! Unfortunately I cant really figure out how to attach pics so Ill tell my story instead.

During this fall semester at college in Upstate NY I took a class called Intro to Archaeological Field Methods. Durin this class, we dug at a very nice site where a shepherds cottage used to stand. This cottage was only a small part of the entire site, which used to be a large wealthy estate comprised of several different mansions. Amongst all the nails and bits of brick, we uncovered a small fragment of a smoking pipe stem. after cleaning it up, we could make out part of a word: "ASGOW." Sadly, at the time we interpreted the wording as "SCOW" and thought the pipe originated from Moscow.

In the artifact lab we measured the bore size of the hole in the center of the pipe to be 5/64", which was able to tell us a manufacture date range of around 1720-1750, which would make this one a little older than the W. White pipe OP has. Currently I have about three explanations for this: Either this pipe was tossed by the original founder of the town (Who settled in the same area during 1776 after serving in the Revolution), the pipe was held onto for about 100 years or was left sitting in some store and the owners of the cottage tossed it, or it was dumped at some point in between the founding of the town and the construction of the cottage by a third and unknown source. Not sure who the actual maker of the pipe was because the opposite side is too worn to read.

If you read this far, thanks! I hope you enjoyed

 

[SurerRain20]

Just figured out how to post pictures and I found some really great microscope pics my lab partner took and it looks like it does at least partially say W. White! Our bore hole analysis must have been off by a couple years.

 

[Timbo]

FYI, I just looked up the Glsgow address, 42 Bain St, and it is still known as the Pipe Factory...

 

[Singed]

Awesome! Pipes with provenance are treasures and the history behind this one makes it a great discovery for you. I hope it smokes well and you can pass it along one day, too.'

Derp...I never look at post dates. I do hope you smoked it BB, and continue to smoke it.

 

[William White Glasgow]

My grandmother has moved to a nursing facility and my brother is moving into her house. We have been clearing out all of her things and my mother found a box containing a clay pipe. I remember this pipe from when I was about 5 or 6 years old (early 80's ). When my grandmother had her house re-sided, the workers found this pipe sitting inside the walls of the house. The house was build around 1907 so it at least dates back that far.

The only markings on the pipe are a "T" and a "D" on the bowl, the word "Glasgow", the word "W.WHITE" and one more marking that says either "T-73" or "T-7B". I kid you not when I say I have wanted this pipe for the past 23 years. Today, my mom gave it to me, knowing my interest in pipes.

I have no idea where to find more info about this pipe. I searched on Google but found very little. If anyone has ANY idea or knowledge of where I could find some more info I would be very appreciate.

I tried sniffing the bowl and it smells faintly of Navy Flake. Perhaps it belonged to one of Docks ancestors.

Just kiddin', D. :lol:

Thanks folks!

I'll try and get some better pics, I just got the pipe this morning so I snapped a few pics with my phone just now in my car.

edit: Image hosting seems to be down right now. I'll try and get those up later.

Hello from Scotland!

I'm Emma, the Heritage Manager for William White's historic clay tobacco pipe factory in Glasgow.

Friends of The Pipe Factory are running a project to conserve the White & Sons factory building (which ceased production of tobacco pipes in the 1950s) while reviving the site as a free creative hub for the local community in the east end of Glasgow.

Thanks for posting about your own find, Benjamin! It's fascinating to see where White's clay pipes ended their journey once they were shipped from Glasgow.

As part of our ongoing project, we're cataloguing and digitising the numerous tobacco pipes/ fragments already found (and still being discovered) in and around the historic factory site.

We're also mapping the spread of White's clay pipes around the world, which is why this thread is such an exciting find!

Our digital archive will be available soon at The Pipe Factory website https://www.thepipefactory.co.uk/

If you've any images of your own White's artefact finds, we would love to hear from you & highlight them in our global mapping project. You can reach me at: [email protected]

Thanks again for kicking off such an interesting discussion!

Cheers,

Emma

 

[PLANofMAN]

This one is marked with the "S." which implies "& Sons," so I assume it's a later model. It's also a system pipe, I think. At least it has a P-Lip.

I'm not sure when it was made, but I'm thinking it's currently the oldest pipe in my collection.

Edit: Picture of pipe-making at W.W.S. in Glasgow, 1943

https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/lifestyle/13270683.tribute-to-glasgows-feat-of-clay/

 

[William White Glasgow]

The company William White & Sons was of some interest to me, as my grandmother worked in the clay pipe factory around 1905.

By pure chance I occupied the upper two floors from 1976 to 1979 operating my printing business. Hence my particular interest in the building.

Here is a little information about the building: Number 42 Bain Street was built as a Clay Pipe factory in 1877.

The clay pipe factory was built by William White & Sons, in its day produced around 14,400 pipes per day in 700 designs. The building has a distinctive red & yellow facade, was originally intended to be stone, however costs determined otherwise. It closed its doors in 1955.

Around 1955 it was occupied by George C Fairservice Ltd. and was a printing company specialising in wedding stationery, at one point being the largest supplier of wedding stationery in Great Britain. It was owned by Frederick Lockwood LEVICK (still trading as George C Fairservice) with his son Harry Rome LEVICK continuing the business until about 1990.

Bain Street was named after Sir James Bain, Provost of Glasgow 1873-77.

Hello theLuddite,

I just stumbled upon your post from 2022 featuring lots of brilliant information about the heritage of White's factory building on Bain St!

I'm currently running a community heritage research project from the building and wondered if I might get in touch to ask some questions about what it was like to work in the building in the 70s?

I'd also love to find out if your grandmother ever shared any memories of her work in the historic pipe factory.

More info on the 'Refiring the Pipe Factory' project https://www.thepipefactory.co.uk/about

Best,

Emma Semple

 

[Carlos]

Emma, I checked the member list. And since this is an old thread it's possible that theluddite may have changed his notification email address and not seen your message to him. He hasn't been on this website since Sep 5, 2022.