Nailsea has an important history of glass-making and at its peak was the 4th largest glassworks in the UK.
When the workers had finished their day's work, they often used bits of waste glass to make fancy pieces such as walking sticks, hubble-bubble pipes and most commonly perhaps, rolling pins.
This example is extremely unusual in that it is engraved with the name of the maker, F. De La Bertouche. If that name sounds French, it's because it is! A number of French workers came over to Nailsea in the late 1850s and were there until the 1st World War broke out.
