Stapleton Road Gasworks, Bristol
This gasworks was built by John Aird and Sons for the Bristol United Gaslight Co, under the recommendation of the engineer, Thomas Hawksley. The works were needed as both the Avon Street and the Canons Marsh sites had become too small for further expansion.
This site had railway connections to both GWR and Midland Railway, with a high-level coal gantry.
1879 Production started.
1891 The name of the parent company was changed to The Bristol Gas Company.
1945 there were two retort houses. No.1 contained horizontal benches 1 and 2 at the south end, vertical benches 3 and 4 at the north. No.2 house contained horizontal benches 5,6,7 and 8. There was an extensive telpher system.
By 1963 only the verticals (benches 3 and 4) remained in No.1 house, No.2 had become a store and No.3 had been built with beds 1 to 4 of verticals. There was also a Micro-Simplex oil gas plant and two GH.
A large spiral GH was built on the north side of Glenfrome Road, which was still in use in 1997, but has since been demolished. The rest of the site has been redeveloped.
See Also
Sources of Information
- The Manufactured Gas Industry in England: Volume 3 Gazetteer. Historic England