What's left of Manchester's Victorian gas holders?
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- čas přidán 9. 09. 2024
- Gasholders or gasometers were once part of the everyday landscape throughout urban Britain - a great way to store reserves of gas for the booming towns and cities. But in the last 20 years they've more or less become redundant and now these behemoths of the background are facing their last days. In Miles Platting, they've made the decision to tear them down - which is the closing of a chapter in the history of this part of the city.
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Ollie, your so close to my favorite river, The River Medlock. Another great watch, Manchester is lucky to have people like you to help keep the local history alive and not forgotten.
In a way they were meters, you could tell how much gas there was by the height of the container, it would also be 'metering' (regulating) the gas flow
and i just checked wiki "Antoine Lavoisier devised the first gas holder, which he called a gazomètre, to assist his work in pneumatic chemistry.[1] It enabled him to weigh the gas in a pneumatic trough with the precision he required."
You would usually find gasworks located near a railway, river or canal. This was to make bringing in the vast amount of coal needed to make the gas.
I grew up in the shadow of the Gasometers you are highlighting, when they were full of gas they leaked a foul odour that I can still small more than 40 years later
Another brilliant bit of local history Ollie, I had no idea that these structures were that old. There used to be a gas works in Hollinwood, across the way from where the Roxy cinema used to be and was there up until quite recently. With the area being more or less demolished in the mid 90s for the building of the motorway there, it’s very similar to what you described in your video. Red brick houses and local communities gone and the need for the gas lessened. That being said, I did see on occasion that particular gas well inflated, always struck me as an impressive piece of engineering
Manchester born and bred and haven't lived there for over 50 years but I do remember the old gasometers very well. Certainly the type that rose and fell according to the contents...
Google Street View already has imagery up of these gasholders gone. Shame, but videos like yours are a great documentation of urban history. Please, keep it up. I'm from England, but have never set foot in Manchester, yet I absolutely love what you do, and think it an important reminder of our yesteryear.
I've lived in this area a few years now, and its always special to see the great structures. A glimpse of the past but also quite ugly and rotten. There is beauty to be found despite what adjectives we use.
In my hometown of Burnley, I used to see the old gas-o-meters rise and fall and have no idea what it was doing as a child. It's strange to think, even then, I was looking at something that was a near relic of the past.
An unexploded WW2 bomb was found in the moat of the gasometer in Sale Manchester during an inspection. I think that was in the 60s or early 70s.
The problem with most Gas works sites Ollie is they tend to be heavily contaminated and not really fit for residential use ,the former Gas works site at Chesterfield off Chatsworth Road that has recently been demolished they have to dig down around 70 feet to clear contaminated soil out
Good reflective commentary. Next to these gas holders were large gas works taking up more land area than these tanks. These gas works burnt coal to create the gas (until they switched to North Sea gas). I remember the huge gas works in Southampton. The area was coated in grime from burning the coal and the air stank for miles around - was it sulphur? Coal was bought in by boat mostly to the adjacent River Itchen, or by rail. The tanks themselves had walls made of sections that would slide over each other so as gas was generated the top of gas holder could rise and the sides would expand. It was part of the everyday scene and smell! of my childhood.
The site is now Saint Mary's Stadium, the home of the Southampton football team - "the Saints". I see they have a bar called Gasworks Bar. On Google earth you can still see the foundations of 2 gas holders just to the north of the stadium. In fact on Street View it still has a picture from May 2021 with one old gas holder structure but that is gone in later views.
We still have a full gasworks and tank like this in Bendigo in Australia, from memory we were told it’s one of the last ones fully intact left in the Southern Hemisphere. The gasworks is left in pretty much pristine condition as it was at the end of its last day, things just got left where they were.
I'm a Mancunian POM living in Western Australia now.
When I came out back packing 12 years ago (I obv didn't go back like!) I went to Bendigo and loved that they had something similar to ours in Manchester!
Also, really bloody liked Bendigo, but Perf and it's weather and it's beaches proved to appealing so I didn't stay in Vic😉
I remember the one near Dane Road station in Sale, next to the Bridgewater canal. Quite a landmark in its day.
They remind me of Oban with it's large black, round, fairly handsome, stone structure above town. The story there was a rich guy wanted to make work for unemployed masons. With these rusty gas storage structures - I don't know, I think some trees and grass would look better.
Swansea once had two of them where Tesco is now.
Thanks, some nicely configured flats in Gasholders outside Pancras in that there Lundun
In Kings Cross London, one of the old gas works has been converted into a green space for people to enjoy.
That way you get the best of both worlds. The structure isn't demolished, but it provides a green oasis in the middle of the city. Just for once, perhaps new flats and offices shouldn't be the number one priority in Manchester.
One of the holders at Kings Cross has been converted into flats.
Still a few of these in Glasgow . Quite iconic . Do other cities have those big water pump towers ? a couple of those in Glasgow . Huge concrete structures like air traffic control.
Another exceptional video, your passion for local history is incredible, keep these videos coming
Incidentally Ollie,
Do you know if they're being demolished for the entertainment regeneration that's part of the Man City precinct?
It's sad man.
They could have kept the structures and redeveloped them,
I was born on Bradford Road, near enough facing the other Gas Tower. Even though I don’t often drive up that way these days, and that the towers are of no use any more it will still be a shame to see them go, more hey have been part of my life for just over 51 years
I grew up in Boston, MA (USA), and I remember the gasholders in various neighborhoods. The house I grew up with had been piped for gaslights, with later electric fixtures fastened to the ends of the wall and ceiling pipe ends. The street lights were gas, and a man made his rounds with a ladder to wind up the clockwork timers on each lamp. They weren't terribly bright, but in those days my residential neighborhood was safe at night.
I was briefly involved with the maintenance of these 'beasts' in the 1980's. They were originally as you say - associated with the production of towns gas - sort of local gas reservoirs so to speak! The tall gas holder (NOT gasometers ! 😁) known as a Man holder, was a German design and allegedly used by German bombers in WW2 as a navigation aid! Great video - keep it up bud!
Nice to hear from another who knows that they are gas holders. A late friend of mine worked in the stores at Bradford Rd and later was a head store man at Higginshaw where I worked out of. Happy days!
Ah, another excellent piece of niche nerdery, I thought, as this appeared in my feed. It did not disappoint. Thanks Ollie.
Excellent and informative as always. Thanks for the time in preparation of these videos for our benefit. In history books about my hometown in West Sussex there are old photos of gas holders that once stood by the railway line. Now there is Post Office Sorting office and a small business park in its place. Thanks - RC
I’ll be sad to see these go. As you said, for anyone alive today, they’ve ALWAYS been there.
I always found them fascinating that they seal the gas in with water around the edge like a moat, and they regulate the pressure by filling up and using the weight of them pushing down on the gas inside.
I suppose in a way they were meters in the way that the more gas that was inside, the higher up they would rise. Beautiful structures, in an industrial sense. I like them, and think it's a shame to see them disappear.
Yeah, not precision meters for the gas company, but certainly helped serve a metering purpose for the locals.
Loved this first vid as recommended by Debbie & Natasha. I live less than a mile away from the gas storage .
Oh cool, thanks for watching!
They're called the gas rings mate.
Im from East manchester mysef, though live down under now (so am loving your videos!).
Thanks Ollie, another very interesting look at the past and how things change. For a couple of years in the early/mid 1970's I passed these on the way to and from work on the 53 bus. Strange what memories stick. At that time SELNEC experimented with having the radio playing on the buses (perhaps to elevate the boredom of sitting behind windows made opaque by severe condensation), you sat, wiped the window with your hand so you could see where you were, and listened to Radio One. I'm getting nostalgic for Barry White now....time to get a cuppa!
My father, who worked in the gas industry, always told me that the ones that went up and down were gasometers, and were used by the industry to establish the rate of gas use and hence the need to turn up or down production and that the tall wooden sided ones were gas holders used to store gas to be released into the mains to maintain pressure and supply continuity.
Don't know if that is fact or memory loss on my part.
Interestingly, and thinking of the current energy situation and the 'Hydrogen is no good' mantras, it's worth noting that coai (or towns) gas in those days was about equal parts Hydrogen and carbon monoxide with some methane. So the introduction of Hydrogen into the supply is not something innovative!
Wonderful presented as always, Thanks.
brilliantly presented as always . Thanks .
I love them - I don't know why. Maybe it's the symmetry or their age. I used to work as a delivery person and one of my favourite areas to deliver to was nicknamed 'under the bridge' in Garston, Liverpool because there was a gasometer there and also terraced streets so it was like going back in time. Said gasometer has been pulled down now though. :(
It's sad to see this one go too - I think they're the ones I look out for when I pass through on the train.
Only just seeing this now even though I’m subbed. Thanks YT! Great video!
Great and interesting video again Ollie - thanks mate!
An excellent, informative and entertaining video as always. Keep up the great work.
It's kinda funny how many modern stadiums are built near old gasometers. The first time I ever saw a disused one was biking with my dad around the car park of a stadium near where I grew up. I was always somewhat transfixed by it, looking like some alien structure which just landed some day. They'd painted it blue too, so at least it wasn't rusty like this one.
The was one of the fixed height wooden panel ones near me when I lived in Harrow. It had big letters N O painted on its side.
There is another one some 8 or 9 miles away at Southall that had the letter L H painted on it.
The true story is that some years ago a PanAm 707 saw the holder and thinking it was the landmark they knew ahead of Heathrow landed on the runway they could see - unfortunately that was RAF Northolt - which did not have much runway! Fortunately the plane made it - just. A conconcerned message from Northolt to Heathrow asked why they had landed a 707 at Northolt - which at the time was a secure military airfield.
In order to get the plane off they had to strip it of anything they could - seating etc. Load it with minimal fuel and almost jump the couple of kilometers to Heathrow. After that there were a couple of similar near misses hence the letters NO (for Northolt or NO Don't Land Here 😂) and LH for Heathrow. Both gasholders are now demolished.
Ringway Manchester would be interested that the holder at Harrow caused a very strong ghost image from the Crystal Palace TV transmitter on my TV. You could measure the distance between the image and it's ghost on a TV screen and work out the distance to the gasholder. I built a second phased antenna and by moving it around in my loft could null out the bulk of the strong reflected signal.
Great video, simple, factual and to the point 😊
Excellent- keep up the good work. Although I think some of them have been listed in London
Tip top as ever. Thanks.
I used to know a guy involved in H&S training who did some work on that one, he described walking on the upper surface as "surprisingly spongey".
The gas was not stored under much pressure. Maybe 3lbs to get the container lid to to rise to the top. the weight of man walking on the top would definitely compress the gas some. The supervisor of one of these gasometers in Manchester used to sit in top and read the Sunday paper whilst the housewives of old all cooked Sunday roast. He maintained that his extra weight would increase the gas pressure just enough to compensate for all the gas ovens cooking dinner on a Sunday afternoon.
They were gas meters. Hence the name gasometer.. not simply only containers but meters with gauges that read levels. You cannot see gas you cannot hold gas in your hands, how do you fill up a container if it does not meter the volume? I wondered why you emphasized them only being containers in the beginning, just to later say they were pressure regulators. Like, idk, a meter!? Lmao
my local one now the sight of a mcdonalds ,probably sums the uk up ,!we called it the gas works !
McDonalds???? UGH
Then I guess it still is "the gas works!" 😜😱🙄
I thought they rose up when full and were doen when low an inner bladder or something. I don't know.
There used to be a few of these near where the Roxy Cinema was.
I remember these towers from attending the Commonwealth Games in 2002 😉
is that what they are?????
Knock everything down and "Solve" the housing "crisis". Come back and tell me when it's 'solved".
I'm Mancunian through and through and was brought up in this area of the city but I'm finding it mighty difficult to get worked up about their removal. Arguably, they are ugly, outdate monstrosities with no architectural significance whatsoever. They overshadow and dwarf the houses in the area and add to the feeling of decay and dysfunction in the terraced streets opposite. There's a trend these days for looking at anything from a previous era through rose-coloured spectacles and elevating the importance of it way way beyond its actual significance. These gas holders fit nicely into that category.
None of these should've gone Ollie. There's ways these days of de-sulpherising coal and coke.