HYDE CHESHIRE

Harry Rutherford's
Festival of Britain Mural




Wednesday 8 September 2010

Hyde Gas Works, Raglan Street

The Gas Works

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The original gas works at Hyde were founded by Mr. Isaac Booth, about the year 1844, and were situated behind the Globe Inn m Back Lane. Mr. Booth was a man of enterprise and public spirit who took a prominent part in the local life of the day. He was one of the early churchwardens at St. George’s church. He was the first High Bailiff of the Court Of Request at Hyde, in the days before the establishment of the county court. He also ran a butchering, grocery, and public house business combined at the Gardeners’ Arms, Back Lane. The first street lamp in Hyde to be lighted with gas was the one in the middle of Clarendon Place, opposite the Queens Hotel. Mr. Booth’s gas business was very prosperous, but after a time there was an agitation conducted by Dr. Hague and other prominent townsmen, to secure a better supply of gas on a more extensive scale. Ultimately amicable terms were settled between Mr. Booth and the promoters of the new Hyde Gas Company, and Mr. Booth sold his works to the Company, which shortly afterwards transferred the manufacturing operations to Raglan Street, where they built the Hyde Gas Works seen in these pictures

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The Hyde Gas Company was formed on July 5th 1854, and in 1855 was incorporated by Act of Parliament with powers to supply gas in the townships of Hyde, Werneth, Newton, Godley, Bredbury and Romiley. At that time the Board of Directors consisted of Messrs. Samuel Hibbert, Frederick Tinker, Thomas Thornely, James Maugham, Joseph Collier, Thomas Hague, and Sampson Ardern.

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In the first 70 years of its existence the Company witnessed many changes in the town which it principally served, and the expansion and development of the town were reflected in the expansion and development of the Company’s business. Gas sales per annum increased from 69,964,700 cubic feet to 283, 180,500 cubic feet, and the number of consumers rose from 4,500 to 11,200, and the mileage of mains from 24 miles to 53 miles. The development of its business was met by the installation of a new manufacturing and distributing plant which was the latest and most efficient type of its day. The Company was also one of the pioneers in the application of Vertical Retorts to gas production, and the Waterless Gasholder when it was erected was one of the first of its kind in the north of England. By the 1930’s the company possessed a well equipped works capable of serving the town with a satisfactory supply of gas at a reasonable rate.
Most of the above is from A History Of Hyde
by
Thomas Middleton.
I cannot recall when the works ceased.. or gasometer was demolished... if anyone can add to this post please do so.
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Update To Post
One of our regulars.. 'Ghost Of Red Pump Street' (great name), as come up with some great info for us concerning the iconic Gasometer.., "the concrete base was poured in November 1930 with construction finishing January 1931. On completion it was the second largest holder in the North of England. It consisted of 325,000 rivets, 25,000 bolts, 864 metal panels and 212 steps on nine staircases"
His dad was right the design was chosen after a delegation had visted Germany and opted to have the german designed tower !!. ..
Thanks for this information
I bet I'm not the only one who as climbed this... I did it a few times... once early morning with Tony Collins... it was great watching the town start to come alive.... we had to get down when the police came... we were told not to do it again.... but we had to later that day as we had left our air rifles up there when the police came.. At one time a Kestral had her nest there for a number of years.

13 comments:

Tom said...

The bottom picture shows parts of Hyde Hall... this is the only picture I've seen of this. and I would love to see any others.

Dave Williams said...

If you go to the archived pictures on the Tameside MB website and type Hyde_Hall in the search box it will show you several photographs and drawings of Hyde Hall, including the one with the gasometer which you show here.

Tom said...

I think most of what is shown is Hyde Hall in Denton... theres not much of the one from Hyde.. :O(

Ghost of Red Pump St said...

Ithink the tower was demolished in about 1988.

Tom said...

Cheers for that Ghost.....

Dave Williams said...

That's right Tom, there appear to be just a few photographs of the old farm buildings belonging to the Hyde Hall in Hyde. The Hall itself was apparently demolished in 1857 which is about the time that the art of photography was being discovered, so it's unlikely that there are any photographs in existence. The most well known depiction is the drawing which appears on the Tameside website and which Gerald England has already featured in his Old Hyde blog. A full page plate of that picture appears in the book 'A Description of the Country from Thirty or Forty Miles Round Manchester' by J Aikin.

Hydonian said...

Stunning last picture ,Tom!

Tom said...

Cheers Dave... I think Aikin's book is available as a download... I must check that out..
What we should do is find out what books are availabe for download and link to them in the side bar...

Dave Williams said...

I've got Aikin's book if it's not available as a download Tom.

Ghost of Red Pump St said...

Some stuff I found out today, the concrete base was poured in November 1930 with construction finishing January 1931. On completion it was the second largest holder in the North of England. It consisted of 325,000 rivets, 25,000 bolts, 864 metal panels and 212 steps on nine staircases !!

My dad was right the design was chosen after a delegation had visted Germany and opted to have the german designed tower !!.

Tom said...

Ghost...
Great information here... I have updated the post and of course credited you and your dad.. Cheers. Tom

Ghost of Red Pump St said...

No problem Tom, keep up the good work.

Tom said...

Mine and Nancy's job is made so much easier when folk join in like you have Ghost... when we started doing this we had no idea how it would pan out... I think I can say we are both very pleased with the comments the posts are getting... and of course the emails. We have had loads of help and advice and 'pointers'. It makes our day when we read some of the comments and read some of the memories the posts bring to others.