THAMES STREET GAS
WORKS,
GREENWICH
(This article is reproduced from the March 2001
edition of GasLight with their permission, and appeared in the May 2001 GIHS Newsletter)
East Greenwich
Gas Works is well known, not just as the site of the Dome but also as the major
gasworks, initially of the South Metropolitan Gas Company and later of the
South Eastern Gas Board. Opened in 1887
it was to rival the Gas Light and Coke Company's Beckton works across the River
Thames but hidden in its shadow is the original Greenwich gasworks sometimes
known as West Greenwich but more correctly styled Thames Street.
Two Journal
articles from 1944 reveal details not only of the works but, again, of those
family connections which was such a feature of the old gas industry.
THAMES STREET - Another Link with the Past Broken
In 1938 the
Company disposed of Bankside the original works of the old Phoenix Gas Light
and Coke Company, and the first gas works to be constructed in London south of
the Thames, We have now to record that another of the Phoenix works, that at
Thames Street has been sold.
These works have
served their purpose and the demands of a modern gas industry have outgrown
them, and can be better served by the extensive works at East Greenwich where
there is ample room for development.
The conveyance of
the property to the Phoenix Company is dated the 12th October, 1824, in which
it is described as market garden, osier bed and wet dock, situated on the mouth
of the River Ravensbourne (Deptford Creek).
One hundred and twenty years ago George IV was on the throne; Charles
Dickens was at a private school in Hampstead, after having spent two years
working in a blacking warehouse while his father was in Marshalsea Prison for
debt; and Napoleon had been dead three years.
On the 1st
January 1880, the Phoenix Company was absorbed by the South Metropolitan Gas Company
and with it came the works at Bankside, Vauxhall and Thames Street
Gas making at Thames Street was ended on 8th January,
1926, and following that, the works were used for the storage of gas-purifying
material, and as a district sub-stores. The Company is retaining the sub-stores
for a time.
CoPartnership Journal August/October 1944
RECOLLECTIONS
OF THAMES STREET
It is not without regret that I read in the last issue
of the CO-PARTNERSHIP Journal that another link with the past had been
broken. Thinking that what I can
recollect of Thames Street Works may interest a few I am putting on paper some
matters brought to mind by the breaking of the link. In January, 1864, I was born at Thames
Street, my grandfather, David Hunter, then having the management of the works
and my father being foreman.
My grandfather's house was near to the Meter House,
and my father lived in the house occupied until recently by Mr. King. My grandfather had a nice garden (also a
grazing ground for goats) between his house and No.4 gasholder. An early recollection,
perhaps the earliest, is that of seeing work being done in the meter house, and
wondering what it meant. It was the
installing of governor - Until then the pressure in the district mains had been
regulated by a man watching a gauge and adjusting a valve to counteract the
changes shown by the gauge.
The Coal Lift was a rather primitive piece
of wooden plant. Its form was that of
sheer legs. The skip could be lowered
into the hold of the ship when the legs were horizontal, and its contents
could be tipped into a truck when they were vertical. The peculiarity of this lift was that it had
no engine. It was driven, by means Of
rather complicated gearing, by an engine connected with the exhausters. The Stage Retort House was built but not
brought into use. Ground at Norman Road
had been acquired (about half the present area) and what was then considered a
large gasholder (No.8) had been erected. Such was Thames Street when I was a
small boy.
In October, 1887,
my father went to Woolwich as Engineer to the Consumers Company, but I did
not lose touch with the old works until (I Think) 1872, when my grandfather
retired.
I was in the
service of the Woolwich Company when it was absorbed by the South Metropolitan
Company in 1885. Late in that year I was
moved to Thames Street, and the changes I found there were very marked. The old
Coal Lift was gone, and in its place hydraulic cranes formed what was
considered one of the best lifts on the Thames.
Steamers of 800 tons, or more, could be unloaded in less time than
vessels of 200 tons with the old lift.
Purifiers stood
where my grandfather's house had been, and what was once a nice garden had
become a place for revivifying purifying material. Two small gasholders had disappeared from the
works, but the loss of them was more than met by a second holder (larger than
No.8) at Norman Road The daily make of gas had increased from under a million
cubic feet to three times that quantity.
The late Mr Braidwood was the Engineer, and
while I was there he made a number of changes.
Perhaps the most noticeable of them was a revolution of the carbonising
plant through his keen interest in the development of inclined retort. He invented and patented a catch for Morton's
retort doors. It was an excellent little
gadget, for, as all adjustment could be made by it, the unsatisfactory,
eccentric bolt in the centre of the crossbar was done away with.
For about thirty years Thames Street was
the home of the Lighterage Department.
That department had its beginning in 1887, when the Company's first tug,
the "George Livesey" was launched. The Company owned only a few
barges then, but their number increased so rapidly that a second tug was soon
needed. This was the
"T.B.Hawthorn," and it was not very long before it was followed by
the "Partnership."
Much could be written about the strike of
1889 - I will only say that it was a time of intense anxiety and very hard
work.
The old works was the place where several
engineers who made their mark in the industry received their training. Among
them were two nephews of my grandfather, John Somerville (Maidstone, Dublin and
Bank side) and Robert Hunter (Stalybridge and Chester), while under the late Mr
Wates, who preceded Mr. Braidwood, our late President, Dr. Carpenter, was a
pupil.
J.D.C.Hunter,
CoPartnership Journal November/December 1944
(J.D.C.Hunter was to be the Chief Clerk at
West Greenwich and went on to become An Employees director under the SMGC
Co-partnership scheme.)
Gaslight was published by the North West Gas Historical Society,
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