THANK-YOU, THANK-you, THANK-YOU. I was born and lived in Bradford till I got married in 1967. Some of my family of ancestors moved there in the 1860’s and by the time of the 1881 census, the rest of my family had joined them. They were a big family of miners and there were plenty of them who worked in Bradford Pit. One of them was killed there; he was just 19 years old. All of my family from that era are buried in Philip’s Park Cemetery. The gas works, the power station, the wire works and in my mind’s eye I can see the it all as well as the engines pulling the coal from the pit. After I married I moved away and I tell my children how massively industrial the area used to be but I know that they really can’t imagine how it used to be (and there was no grass). Thank goodness for Philips Park. You two have saved my memories. My children and grandchildren will now have the opportunity to see what I’ve been trying to explain to them all these years. I’m thinking that the City of Manchester owe you a debt that will probably be more massively appreciated in the future and even more as the years go by. T H A N K Y O U.
As a kid, late 60s early 70s Bradford was my playground, the canal, the railway, New Viaduct Street, Philips Park. The gasometers were such an iconic part of the scene in those halcyon days.
I think if my dad was alive he would be very grateful to you both for getting all this history together. He was works manager at West's improvements on hulme Hall Lane which you captured on the film. I remember going into the works by the steps you showed briefly. He used to tell me all about those gas works because west's were greatly involved. Sad he's no longer alive of course but I'm so glad you did this filming. Thank you both very much.
Martin what a video . Roy you are a legend for climbing the gasometer and taking those pictures. If they would only build something as iconic and beautiful in there place it wouldn’t be so bad . Keep it up lads Sunday wouldn’t be the same without you . Paul, Burnley
Gasometers is such a genius solution to a problem. Completely outdated today, obviously, but as an engineer, I'm just sad that such a clever solution is gone. Stockholm luckily has a few brick ones that are going to be preserved by being converted to other use.
I thought that a similar idea could be used for storage of mop up energy from windmills, rather than using fire prone lithium batteries. Maybe use compressed air or something.
Another great video. My father-in-law was an apprentice for a local gas company before the war and only retired in the 1980s. - He climbed quite a few 'gas holders' and made extra money greasing and painting them periodically. Natural Gas was the start of their demise and privatisation killed them off. - Natural gas was drier than 'Town Gas' and as the pipes dried out, they leaked. Many miles of pipes had to be replaced. - Gas pumped from the North Sea could feed the country most of the time but in severe cold it couldn't cope, so they used the gas holders to maintain the pressure. - Many gas holders needed renewing. It was cheaper to import gas when required. - Town Gas was not pure and had many pollutants. It condensed and settled in the bottom of the holders (soaking through the foundations and into the land below. The cost of demolishing the holders and cleaning up the land (along with the crash in the price of scrap steel) meant many stood idle for years. They only get demolished when the land is sold for development. - A few of the old frames have been converted into flats by building inside the frames to keep the character (good example over in Dublin - not on your patch?).
I grew up with the derelict power station ( played in it many times) the gasometer and the " big banger" we called it. End of an era thanks for the documentary video 👍👍
As kids we went inside one that was shut down there was a long rope inside. We had it away for a swing over the river the first lad to swing over the river was known as test pilot the rest of his life
Great video Martin, thumbs up to Roy for his photos, I’m in Hull , our last gasometer was demolished about a year ago , I remember the gas man coming to our house in the 50s and 60s to empty the gas meter, count the 1 and 2 shilling pieces on our kitchen table , you would get a rebate a few shillings back , he wore a black uniform with a cap like a bus conductor, different times . In the early to mid 60s North Sea gas came online, any gas appliances you had , fires boilers etc had to be converted, before the conversion was done any remaining town gas had to be burnt off , this was done in the street by some sort of pipe work contraption I can recall the yellow gas flame . Maybe I’m weird but I liked the smell of town gas , a bit like the original victory V lozenges, they’ve changed now . I could go on but this msg is way to long .
I'm a bit too young to remember the smell they put in to town gas. I remember my mum telling me the coal tar soap had been, ahem, found at the "gas works". I now realise she was just trying to shut me up but it backfired as I loved the smell so much I kept pestering her to take me to find more 😅
@@britishlongbarrows Proper old creosote was a byproduct of making Town Gas...they stopped selling it quite a few years ago...as with Coal Tar Soap...and substituted it with a similar smelling chemical but not as good and didn't smell as nice in my opinion.
Gas holders were (and still are, in places) used to cope with local demand, being filled at night ready for the morning. The thing about gas, though, is that you can store ten times as much of it in a given space by increasing the pressure ten times (roughly, I won't get into ideal and non-ideal gases). So, as long as the main network is up to it, which it is nowadays, you can simply pump more gas into the big pipes and reduce the pressure before it goes to people's houses, what is known as "line packing". The expansion valves to get back down to domestic pressure are often at the remaining "gasworks" sites and tend to be covered in frost, since the expanding gas cools rapidly. The corrugated MAN holders are tar-seal gas holders with an internal piston and the type that goes up and down are water-seal gas holders. The local gas pressure is surprisingly low, so a deep pond of water around the base of each rising section is all that's needed to keep the gas in.
Grew up with these in my early childhood too when they were such a common sight. Roy is such a rebel. Those pictures are amazing. Is he Ally Laws dad? 😂😂😂
What a great video. My mam used to take me to Philip's park in springtime back in the 60s to look at the flower displays which it was renowed for. I seem to remember watching shunters going across the road at Bradford Colliery stopping the traffic as they crossed.
Outstanding great video, Martin. I had tears in my eyes when it was gone. Wonderful way to bring maps, historic images and today emotionally together. And good to see Roy telling parts of the story himself. Again, a Sunday evening highlight.
I don't envy the workers torching the framework . It's a delicate balance between the amount of lift the crane is exerting to counter the weight of the section being cut free . At the critical moment when the heavy section is cut free things like to buck, boom , bounce and dance .
Ok,just watched the video, first time have seen a gasometer from the point of view of a drone. I remember my mum changing from a range to gas. Later changing from town gas to what they called high speed gas. Some great photographs in this episode. Keep going we need to document more of this form of social history, also this form of social history is very consumable to the general public. Thank for sharing.
I remember as a child, going down town with mum to pay the gas and electricity bills in the respective shops. They even sold the appliances in there, seems a much easier way than all the faff with these different companys we have to deal with now. Our gasometers just outside the town centre were demolished a few years ago.
Great Video Martin. So many fantastic photos. Big thank you to Roy for his top-of-the-Gasomiitor shots. The Manchester i remember is fast disappearing. Keep up the great work We love it .😀👍👍
Another great video Martin, thank you. My local gasometer in Stretford went in 2016 and I recall training on Sale Harriers running track at Crossford Bridge in the shadow of a gasometer in the 1960’s.
It is sad to see them go, as you say, they are such an iconic landmark, but I understand. They serve no purpose these days, and the land can obviously be put to better use. It’s not as if they could be called beautiful. Some things deserve to be preserved, but I’m not sure gasometer framework is high on this list. Having said that, it’s astounding that they were ever able to be created. The fact that they are still standing is a testament to the engineering of the day. I hope of the remaining 95, at least one is permanently preserved.
The MAN gasholders were also known as waterless gasholders. There was a third type which you do not show here. It did away with the frame by having helical rails on each tank section on which the next section ran. My mother was born in 1915. She remembered being taken, as a young girl, on a school visit to Old Kent Road gasworks. She said she was terrified of it. Gasworks were terrible places to work, but I would have been interested to see one. I like the painting; who was the artist? Croydon gasholder frame was taken down a few months ago. It looked about the same size as your one. There were several gasholders with ornate frames, just outside St. Pancras station in London, including a triplet. They had to be taken down to make way for the high speed rail link to the Channel Tunnel, but they were listed and so were re-erected nearby, with flats built inside the frames. When Ilkley gasworks was demolished much of the stone was kept on site, and used to build Booths supermarket. Look out for a film ‘The Last Retort’. It was filmed at a small gasworks with horizontal hand charged retorts. I have seen it described as being Newton Stewart and Clitheroe, so I’m not sure which is correct. I remember well the conversion of appliances to natural gas in about 1970; a massive operation.
I've got a book from the 1930's that called them "Gas Holders" and suggested that Gasometer was not correct... 🤓 Great channel by the way. Really, really interesting! 👌
Great video Martin. I started work as an apprentice for North West Gas in 1981, and was based at Bradford Rd gas works before it closed. and was moved to Gould St. I remember the holders well. The demise of the gas holder came about when Margaret Thatcher privatised the gas industry, allowing you to buy gas of any number of suppliers. After privatisation Transco which became National Grid, now Cadent, owned all the infrastructure, but not the gas within it ( Mad I know). Basically making holder redundant
Out of curiosity, does the UK have some underground gas storage facilities? Those serve exactly the same purpose as gasometers, but with much greater capacity.
I joined GMP as a boy in 1976 passed those gasometers most days, when I saw that sign for Briscoe Lane it put a great big soppy lump in my throat well done guys on you efforts and recording the history of Manchester, probably only a true Manc would ever understand 👍
Another gem. Wonderful old maps and film footage. Your voice over Martin was brilliant 👏. Roy's pics are wonderful. We lived across Poole Park from the gas works, in the 70's. I remember that when the flame blew out their was a terrible stink. One night, the sky was all red because it had caught on fire. All gone now. Thank you for the video.
one got bombed very close to my home in the early 90's gateshead. and as a kid id see over to Newcastle and if the top was white with condensation i knew rain was coming in the next hour ;-)
I remember hearing a story of a company that had erected new mobile phone masts, and they kept getting reports of signal outages in the area. They couldn't work out what the issue was, sometimes everything was fine, and then sometimes there'd be no signal. Until they looked at the line of sight of that mast with where it had a microwave link, and realised it was in line with a gasometer. When they had put it up and tested, the gasometer was empty, so everything was fine. But of course as it filled back up and went up and down, it would intermittently block the signal and cause outages.
Brilliant video Martin, Roy. when it’s gone it’s gone I was at secondary school in the early 70s and a new lad started from Manchester, with a strange accent different to evo (me) as my mam was from Salford he was called Johnny Marr from Bradford we were both Army Cadets different detachments at the time,we used to stay at his Nans in Bradford over weekend one of the first things he showed me was the gas holder in the video, I have never forgotten the hospitality friendship of the people of Bradford Beswick if they had nothing they would give you everything brilliant I grew up quick as a 15 yr old lad thanks to those lovely people of east Manchester. ❤❤❤❤
Brilliant post, i grew up with them too, can remember the gas works at St Leonards near Hastings the smell! Then the arrival of north sea gas, and the engineer changing the gas ports on the old gas cooker. Seems a long time ago. They kept the gasometer frames at Lords cricket ground though.........
Great video Martin. We had a rise and fall in Hollinwood, which was demolished not too long ago. Also remember the tin can gas towers, as there was some in Middleton, which I remember from visiting grandparents down there.
Now you’re talking my childhood. I used to wait for the 53 bus by the gasometer! We lived in Newton Heath beyond the other end of Briscoe Lane, near Brookdale Park. My childhood home suffered from subsidence, and I remember our Dad blaming coal mines at the time. I remember him saying the mines stretch for miles underground. I wasn’t convinced at the time but watching your video, I now realise he was right! In the end our house became part of the slum clearance and was compulsory purchased, much to the annoyance of my Dad. Fond childhood memories of the boating lake in Philips Park. I was born 1957 and lived there till I moved to London in 1984. We now live in Suffolk. My Mrs grew up in Levenshulme and we used to hang out a Noel Timpson Youth Club on Cheetham Hill Rd. I used to wait by that gasometer for the 53 bus. Best days were when the girlfriend (now Mrs) was already on the 53 I caught and we travelled on to Cheetham Hill together. Thanks for documenting this bit of history. Yours, “Outraged of Newton Heath” 😂 (Don Egan)
Great video. Yes, that was a column guided gas holder, there was also spirally guided holders around the country too. They provided peak load supply back in the day. Filled during nights, mainly, and drawn from as required in the day. Nowadays, pipes and pipelines do the same job, called line packing. I started as an apprentice with Britsih Gas in 1977 at both Gaythorn and Bradford Rd yards. I went in the MAN waterless holder you mentioned. It stunk rotten, and as a kid was quite terrifying. When I left school, I wasn't keen on doing any work, really, and discovering very few did in BG was a great relief. Good times, long gone now.
Back in the early seventies, I was working on radio comms around Manchester and I remember we had problems with periodic loss of signals in a particular area, which was eventually tracked down to the rise and fall of the local gasmometer!
Gasometers are now all disappearing; next will be the iconic hyperbolic (I think that's the correct word) associated with the massive coal-fired power stations, the last of which is now shut down. Yes, it's necessary to progress, but I find it a bit sad; perhaps they preserve some of these features, probably turning them into luxury apartments or, better still, in my humble opinion, a museum of some sort. I love the 60s-style voiceover, Martin. I'm old enough to remember these, and I think you pretty much nailed it!
Great Video Martin and team, our local Gasometers was in Stretford and Trafford Park, now called the Longford Trading Estate, next to the Bridgewater Canal, but google maps shows us the 3 round circles of where they used to be. i remember seeing these full many times, but never caught them actually rising or lowering... :)
I remember seeing the gasometer in Stretford from our house in Sale, and it being up or down with the amount of gas in it. I remember the men coming to change the burners on my mums cooker for new ones, because natural gas needed a different air mixture. You brought back more memories with this video than the ones where you're crawling underground, but it's all good stuff, so carry on the good work. Oh, and I'm missing James again.
A fabulous video, mate...! There used to be a huge MAN gasometer in Battersea - it disappeared without ceremony about ten hears ago. The ones next to The Oval cricket ground are grade two listed...
Great images from both of you, thanks 😀 I spent a couple of very enjoyable evenings looking at the history of the Bradford Colliery, especially all the maps, after watching one of your previous vids. Took me forever to find Bradford on the maps in the first place though! 🙃.
It reminds me of the gasometer in Schlieren, which stored gas for the city of Zurich-a telescopic gasometer, about the same size as the one in Manchester. Two of the gasometers were demolished, but thankfully, one was preserved as an industrial monument. It’s fortunate that the gasometer built in 1898 was kept as a piece of industrial heritage.
Brilliant brilliant brilliant vid . Thanks martin and Roy. Love watching all your content. So much history gone in a blink of an eye. Up and down the country. 😢. We had these gasometers and mines here in Bristol.
We had a huge one in paignton, hollicombe. Hard to believe now. Trouble with them is the nasty stuff they leave behind like arsenic, hollicombe park still has the foundations of the gas works in it. They were turned into ponds until the council filled them in
Thank you! My hometown of Sacramento, California had one of these on Front Street (along the Sacramento River where city animal shelter is now) until about the mid '80s. Now I know what it was.
I'm guessing the ones in Warrington are gone now. I grew up looking at them as we drove past on the way to my gran's. I've not been back for 40yrs. I doubt I'd recognise anything from Liverpool docks to Salford docks nowadays. I seem to recall the IRA planting a bomb on the Winwick rd gasometers between Dallam & Hulme in Warrington. Another legendary historical recording. I hope all your work will get the recognition it deserves. Well done Roy, thanks for the photos, your reporting is getting quite the professional nowadays. The ghost of Tony Wilson will be smiling over you both, I'm sure.
Hey Martin. I love the videos. Im from Iowa U.S.A. i was wondering. You familiar with Fred Dibnah? Since you and the fellas enjoy history and architecture i wondered if fred ever fell a chimney in Manchester or if any of the huge ones still exist. Thank you for the videos. 😊
Thanks Martin for another interesting video. A few years ago, I watched a similar gas holder being demolished near where I live in Blackburn. I also felt a pang of sadness to see it go, I loved the heavy engineering of these structures. They weren't pretty, I know, but they were certainly imposing and served as a very notable local landmark. Maybe, they also pervaded a sense of familiarity and home. Anyway, they've nearly all gone now, you can't stop the relentless tread of progress I suppose. Roy must certainly have a head for heights.
Absolutely fantastic video and I’m so glad you took the time to create this and upload it. I’ve always liked these things and thought that they were all Grade II listed or something like that, but apparently not. So sad to see these ones torn down 😢. When I drive around the North Circular Road in East London (A406), I get a glimpse of the old gas works in Bromley-by-Bow which has a few old gasometers standing, as I believe these ones are listed. Cheers 👍🏽
Another great video. Such a shame they demolished the framework. Seen other places where they've incorporated them into developments, a much better solution, honouring the past. But thank goodness for Roy and his photos, they are stunning.
I can still remember the smell of the gas in the 60s/70s and being told that when we changed to North Sea gas that they had to put something in it so we could tell if there was a leak. Also being on the bus along Queens Park Road ( Now Alan Turing Way) going past the mine on the way to Belle Vue Zoo.
Beautiful structures. Sorry to see them go. There's still one at St Pancras, a smaller one, converted into a building. Basford gasworks, in Nottingham, had a pair which were in use well into the late 80s. It was probably still useful to have a buffer store of gas, albeit natural gas, as the old coke works had been decommissioned decades previously. Sunderland still had its gasometres a few years ago. I haven't been back since so they may have gone.
In 1995 I started my gas engineer apprenticeship. The old boys used to tell me about the conversion from town to natural. Appliances had their own governors, they were removed and the injectors were changed. The governing was then done from the meter (as what we see today). A comment I’ll never forget off a bloke was “you could top yourself with town gas with your head in the oven (unlit) but not with natural gas. Town gas was really poisonous I was told. I’m 13 years out of the trade now.
@Martin .... Sad to see the destruction of our past, but so glad you recorded this for posterity. Your drone shots, great ... Roy on the top !!!! Well what can i say
Thanks for the great video! Although the gasworks were so historically important, hardly any have been preserved as museums. I know of one in Germany (Neustadt / Dosse) and one in Great Britain (Biggar). Both were very small gasworks. Then there was "Beckton Gas Works" in London which, before it was demolished, served as the backdrop for a James Bond film and "Full Meatl Jacket"!
Really sad... Industrial heritage is so important. In London they have built apartments inside the steel frame... They are amazing to see. And the grounds where the buildings were have been retained as gardens using the foundations as a foot print... Shame they couldn't do something similar. I grew up with 2 of these in Stourbridge in the black country. Both demolished. I still see them in my mind driving past where they used to be... Great video. Thanks both 😊
That was super interesting Martin. We had a virtually identical Gasometer in Nuremberg that was also built by MAN. Didn't expect to hear that name in one of your videos, I think they build mostly trucks now? Anyway ours was already torn down in 1992, but what you showed today still looked familiar to me. Fun fact, it was briefly mentioned in Graham Greene's novel "Orient Express", when the train pulled into Nuremberg.
I come from miles away from Manchester and am not familiar with the places mentioned but this was a superb little film. Very interesting and informative and the shots were stunning. I have to say that I misspent my youth "exploring" the edgelands of London so saw many sights similar to this,but i the days before didgital phtography I didn't capture much of what I saw. Keep up the good work,lads...it's all for art!😃
I grew up in the shadows of those frames and still remember the smell of rotting cabbage that leaked out, I remember as a 16 year old back in 1981 me and my mate got in the gas works and climbed to the top ring for a dare, never felt so scared in all my life.
I've been on the Tipton gas holder here in the west midlands was called mond gas. Back in the early 90s they dismantled the gas works so this was my play ground.. I remember all the tar around there
When I was a youth back in the 70's, there were a couple of these gasometers near where I lived and played, of course security wasn't what it is today and we climbed on top of the tank a couple of times. Like a massive drum obviously, and jumping up an down on the lid could get a most satisfying boom, especially when it was at full height, plus the view was fantastic across the massive shunting yards, that were also a playground for us. We got chased a few times by angry railworkers and the security guards, who actually had a shotgun, I remember that most vivid.
