Glassmaker Pilkington marks 200 years of glassmaking heritage

Source: The Business Desk - Neil Hodgson

St Helens glassmaker, Pilkington UK, is marking its 200th anniversary – and pledging its continued support for the town with new investment.

The company, now part of the Japan-based NSG Group, is celebrating two centuries of pioneering manufacturing that changed the way we design and use buildings.

It was 1826, the year the internal combustion engine was patented, the first photograph was taken, and Beethoven was at his creative peak.

In Merseyside, four local families joined forces to open ‘St Helens Crown Glass Company’, and it is still going strong 200 years later.

The business was renamed Pilkington Brothers in 1849 when William and Richard Pilkington acquired the company.

This became Pilkington Ltd in 1894, and the name remains a byword for quality and innovation in glassmaking, the group said.

In its lifetime, Pilkington UK has consistently pioneered the development of new processes and technologies that have enabled the manufacture of the highest quality glass at an industrial scale.