Silica glasses doped with rare earth ions are potential dosimetry materials for optical fibre applications. High sensitivity dosimetry requires fibres with large cores that can be reliably fabricated using glass made from the reactive powder sintering of silica. The luminescence and dosimetric properties of a range of rare earth doped silica materials produced using this technique have been studied. It was found that thermoluminescence, radioluminescence and optically stimulated luminescence are observed if the glass contains radiation resistant species that have luminescent transitions in the detection wavelength range. Cerium and thulium doped silica glasses were found to be promising candidates for optical fibre dosimetry. Samples showed intense luminescence signals in response to both photo-stimulation and irradiation from alpha and beta sources. Optically stimulated luminescence results for cerium are three times larger than results for irradiated fluoride phosphate glasses previously tested for dosimetry use. Spectroscopic measurements indicate emission in the 300 to 500 nm region, suitable for detection with photomultiplier tubes.