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www.gas-holders.co.uk


East-India02

An Edwardian gas holder, framed by modern buildings. London Docklands, 2004.

Gas2

Most gas holders have a permanent lattice-type frame. Edmonton, north London, 2003.

Chorley02

Despite their size, gas holders often exist unnoticed. This is a spiral type which requires no external frame. In the summer months it will completely disappear from view. Chorley, Lancashire, winter, 2003.

Sherpa

The least common style of gas holder in Britain has a solid external structure. Southall, west London, 2004.


Gas holders, often referred to as gasometers, were once a feature of every town of any size in Britain. They are enormous structures yet, despite their size, are almost invisible – a part of the townscape which people simply don’t notice.

There are three main types of gas holder in Britain. The most familiar has a sectional storage tank which rises and falls on rollers inside a permanent lattice-type structure. In summer the storage tank is generally empty and the lattice structure stands vacant. In winter the tank is more often full and rises and falls – slowly – within the frame. The second most common type has a sectional tank which rises and falls in a spiral movement without the need of a fixed supporting structure. This type effectively disappears in the summer months, when the gas holder is empty. The third and least common type in Britain has a solid cylindrical exterior frame and an internal piston with a retaining disc which rises and falls. There is no visible sign of any change as the storage tank fills and empties. On some sites gas holders of two different types can be found together.

The discovery of gas in the North Sea in the 1970s changed the way in which gas was stored and delivered, and one result of this has been a gradual reduction in the number of gas holders around the country.


Not all gas holders are photogenic, but so far photographs have been taken in the following towns:

Ashford (Kent)
Biggar (Gas Museum)
Birmingham
Blackburn
Blackpool
Brierfield
Burnley
Chorley
Dundee
Edinburgh
Gateshead
Glasgow
Great Harwood
Halifax
Harrogate
Keighley
Leeds
Liverpool

London
   Cambridge Heath
   Edmonton
   Kennington
   Kings Cross
   North Greenwich
   Southall
   Tottenham

Worcester Park
Manchester
Oxford
Plymouth
Preston
Southport
Sunderland
Swindon

Information on any other British towns which still have gas holders is always welcome – e-mail sjb@gas-holders.co.uk

Stewart Brown has since 2000 been documenting gas holders, wherever his travels in Britain take him, generally fitting photography around business trips. This website will be developed to show a small number of those images. Those currently displayed were taken using an Olympus E20-P digital camera.