The role of Fe2O3 in the structural and physical properties of ternary lead vanadium iron glass system has been studied in comparison with the binary lead vanadate glasses. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and differential thermal analysis show that homogeneous glasses of composition 10Fe2O3xV2O5(90-x)PbO can be obtained for x = 50-80 mol %. Observation from the infrared spectroscopy shows that the basic building block of these glasses are same as that of crystalline V2O5, while differential thermal analysis and electrical conduction of these glasses suggest that there is a strong role of iron, both in the glass network and in the conduction mechanism for the glasses containing low percentage of vanadium.