A large area compatible and solid-state process for growing silica nanowires is reported using nickel, titanium and silicon dioxide layers on silicon. The silica nanowires also contain silicon, as indicated by Raman spectroscopy. The phonon confinement model is employed to measure the diameter of the Si rich tail for our samples. The measured Raman peak shift and full width at half-maximum variation with the nanowire diameter qualitatively match with data available in the literature. We have investigated the effect of the seedbed structure on the nanowires, and the effect of using different gas conditions in the growth stages. From this, we have obtained the growth mechanism, and deduced the role of each individual substrate seedbed layer in the growth of the nanowires. We report a combined growth mechanism, where the growth is initiated by a solid-liquid-solid process, which is then followed by a vapour-liquid-solid process. We also report on the formation of two distinct structures of nanowires (type I and type II). The growth of these can be controlled by the use of titanium in the seedbed. We also observe that the diameter of the nanowires exhibits an inverse relation with the catalyst thickness.