House of Marbles

By Helen Butcher

Marbles are a popular find for beachcombers; little glass treasures found in a huge array of colors, patterns, and finishes, sitting seaworn on the sand.

Beloved by people of all ages throughout history, marbles are perfect to play, collect, or trade. For thousands of years, people have enjoyed games involving rounded pebbles or balls of natural clay and even nuts. Marbles have been found in native American tribal burial grounds, Aztec pyramids, and even the tomb of the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamen. The ancient Greeks and Romans enjoyed the game and made their marbles out of the stone marble, giving them the name. Shakespeare mentions marbles in his play Twelfth Night. The 17th century saw games of marbles become associated with gambling and violence, so much so that students at Oxford, Cambridge, and other boys’ schools were prohibited from playing with them. Despite this, marbles have remained popular, and you are sure to have a few rolling around in a drawer at home.

I took a trip to a British marble museum tucked into the Devon countryside in South West England to find out more about their history and how they are made. House of Marbles is located in Bovey Tracey, next to Dartmoor, on the site of a beautiful old pottery factory—one of only two left in the U.K. with a bottle kiln. A beautiful industrial site of red brick, it is home to fascinating museum collections of marbles, glass, traditional games, and pottery, as well as Teign Valley Glass Studio, The Old Pottery Restaurant, and a huge gift shop emporium.

It all began in 1973 when House of Marbles started making wooden board games to sell at craft fairs, their first marbles being created as game pieces for solitaire boards. Now they mostly create stunning art glass pieces for galleries throughout the U.K. and U.S., as well as private commissions.

The highly skilled glass makers in the studio demonstrate a variety of processes for you to watch, including glass blowing and hot glass sculpting. They also hold lots of workshops throughout the year for visitors to learn more about the process of glassmaking and create their own piece to take home. When I visited, Christmas robin production was in full swing, and it was fascinating to watch the studio glassmakers start with a lump of clear molten glass and then shortly after, pop a fully-fledged robin into the cooler.

The marble museum holds a huge collection of marbles from across the ages. There are early examples of clay, stone, and glass marbles that have been dated as some of the oldest in existence. These were known as “end of day” marbles and were rolled from the glass scraps by German glassmakers in the mid-1800s, to take home for their children to play with. These resemble marbles as we know them today—perfect spheres of glass. Soon after, German glassmakers invented specially adapted shears to cut the marble canes more easily. The new tool enabled marbles to be produced much more quickly and made the sale of marbles to the public possible. Machine production began in the early 1900s, increasing marble popularity again by making them more affordable.

Some of the rarer museum pieces include marbles containing a sulphate figurine and promotional marbles made for companies such as Coca-Cola. The museum also contains one of every marble produced at House of Marbles.

It was fascinating to learn about all the different types of marbles. They can be categorized in many ways—by type, color, size, manufacturer, material, age, style, or how they were made. Modern marbles are generally made from glass for the decorative potential, durability, and aesthetic appeal. Sulphide, swirly, shooter, toothpaste, pearls, crystal, princess, and opaque are some of the popular names you may have heard of. Glass is made from silica (sand) mixed with an alkaline such as soda or potash and heated to extreme temperatures. The colors are created using the addition of an agent—gold to create red, silver to create yellow, and copper to create green, for example. Agents can be mixed, and different preparation temperatures used to create a huge range of color varieties. Colors can also be injected to create swirls, and chemicals, minerals, and chippings added to almost finished marbles can achieve different surface textures and finishes. The possibilities are endless!

A lovely interactive feature of the museum is the fabulously creative marble runs. There are several, but “Snooki 2000” is by far the largest—the quirky metal contraption covers a whole wall of the shop area and uses snooker balls in place of marbles. Created by Swiss engineer and artist Alex Schmid, it includes a Newton’s cradle, bell ring, loop the loop, and funnel, and takes a full 30 minutes of watching to see all the parts of the run in action. You can watch it on the House of Marbles YouTube channel.

Make sure to include time in your visit for a meal or refreshments at the Old Pottery Restaurant. This busy little restaurant has a wonderful seasonal menu and is highly regarded locally. The sheltered courtyard garden is a beautiful place to sit and relax and has a children’s play area with a fascinating focal point—a giant floating marble suspended on a bed of water. There are also marble playing arenas to challenge family and friends to a match or two!

Talking of games, most people are surprised to find that there is no single game of marbles. Many versions have common elements though, with players taking turns using a bigger marble to knock the opponent’s smaller marbles out of a designated area and winning the game by knocking out the most marbles. Games can be “for fair” which means players keep their own marbles or “for keeps” whereby marbles can be won by the other player.

If you are feeling particularly competitive, Marbles is an officially recognized sport, and the British and World Marble Championships are held annually on Good Friday in Tinsley Green, West Sussex. Teams of six compete for the titles and trophy, using a version of the game called “Ring Taw” or “Ringer.” The tournament itself dates back to 1588, during the reign of Elizabeth I. Marbles was chosen to be the deciding game of a legendary weeklong sporting encounter between two men, Giles and Hodge, to win the hand of a young milkmaid named Joan. Giles made a surprise comeback from earlier defeats and triumphed over Hodge, and the little village has hosted the annual competition ever since.

Plan your visit to House of Marbles soon for a day filled with curiosities, nostalgia, and probably a few “pick and mix” marbles from the gift shop to add to your collection!

This article appeared in the Beachcombing Volume 40 January/February 2024.