Glass was supposed to have been invented in pre-Roman Britain and the name ‘glass’ has Celtic roots. The Latin name for glass also meant woad suggesting that the first glass would have been blue. It is not improbable that glass was discovered among northern people as during the winter months they would have little to do apart from sitting around open fires watching the flames, so it is not unlikely that this would lead to them experimenting with fire.
The Celtic people were consummate metalworkers and the furnace of a blacksmith would have been an even more likely place for glass to have been discovered.
However, if the Ancient British did invent glass they did not seem to have used it for anything practical like windows. Instead, they used it for religious charms – the snake stone, probably quite similar to a large Victorian children’s marble.
