Canons Marsh Gasworks, Bristol
of Wapping Wharf, Bristol
1823 The Bristol and Clifton Oil Gas Company Act received royal assent in August 1823. The Act prevented the company from manufacturing gas from coal; instead the feedstock was whale oil. Its works were at Canons Marsh.
By 1835 the high cost of whale oil meant that the company was petitioning to be allowed to use coal gas.
1836 An Act of Parliament was passed that allowed the company to use coal gas.
1847 the company changed its name to the Bristol and Clifton Gaslight Company.
1853 An Act of Parliament was passed that allowed the amalgamation of the Bristol and Clifton Gaslight Company and the Bristol Gas Light Company forming the Bristol United Gaslight Company.
1891 the company changed its name to the Bristol Gas Company.
The works had a railway siding from the GWR goods yard on the northern boundary and a jetty on the harbour. There was a block of three horizontal houses in a single building, numbered 2,3 and 4. The former No.1 house contained CWG, boilers and exhausters by 1933. A matching block of four coal stores stood immediately north.
By 1945 PG plant had been installed.
1949 Vested in the South Western Gas Board.
By September 1963 the only gas making plant here comprised two CWG sets
See Also
Sources of Information
- The Manufactured Gas Industry in England: Volume 3 Gazetteer. Historic England