The Oval Gasholders is the unofficial name given to the gas holder (gasometer) located near The Oval cricket stadium in London, England. Construction began in 1853 [1] and the site is officially called Kennington Holder Station by its owners, Southern Gas Network. [2] It is a grade II listed building with the listed part of them known as Gasholder No. 1. [3] [4]
The Phoenix Gas Light and Coke Company bought the site north of the Oval in 1845 from the Southwark & Vauxhall Waterworks Company, who had laid out the site in 1807 as a waterworks with an engine house and two circular brick-lined reservoirs. The Phoenix Gas Company adapted the circular reservoirs for gasholder tanks and erected five gasometers between 1847 and 1874.
The first iron gasholder was installed on the site in 1847 to service a gasworks next to Vauxhall Bridge. The Phoenix Gas Light and Coke Company replaced it in 1877–79 to designs by Sir Corbet Woodall, with two lifts holding 3 million cubic ft, making it the largest gasholder in the world. It was enlarged again by Frank Livesey in 1891–92 for the South Metropolitan Gas Company, by modifying the guides to increase their height by 50%, and adding two more lifts, including a "flying lift" rising above the guides, doubling its capacity to 6 million cubic feet. It is an early use of wrought iron in a frame. [5] This structure, Gasholder 1, is Grade II listed by virtue of: a) its being the world's largest gasholder at the time, b) its famous designers Frank and George Livesey and c) its being an internationally renowned backdrop to matches at the adjacent Oval Cricket Ground. The cylindrical wrought iron guide frame is about 135 feet (41 m) high, with 24 t-section lattice standards, rising in three tiers and connected by three rows of horizontal lattice girders, with a rising "bell" of four tiers, including the top "flying lift" rising above the standards. It would have topped 180 feet (55 m) when full.
A second gasholder, No.2, was constructed in 1854–55 and converted to a spiral-guided holder in 1950, which does not require a frame. No.3 was constructed in 1869 but demolished c.1975.
The conjoined pair of Gasholders No. 4 & 5, erected in 1874 and 1876, was designed by Sir Corbet Woodall and is locally listed. Each of these gasholders has an elegant neo-classical style frame and Tuscan columns. The gasometers were decommissioned in 2014 and the site is due for redevelopment. There are concerns that only the nationally listed No.1 gasometer will be preserved.
The gasholders are adjacent to the north-east boundary wall of The Oval, and overlook the Vauxhall End of the ground. [6] They have been long considered an intrinsic part of the traditional background of The Oval [7] with the largest gas holder only ten years younger than the cricket ground, which was established in 1846. [8] During England cricket team matches, huge advertising banners hang from the gas holders. [9] They are regularly referred to in Test Match Special broadcasts. [10]
In 2008 Surrey County Cricket Club, tenants of The Oval, announced plans to redevelop the ground along the side nearest the gas holders. However, their redevelopment plans were objected to by the Health and Safety Executive because of the proximity to the gas holders and amid fears that they might explode despite not cracking or leaking since construction. [11] This view was supported by London Fire Brigade, who listed the gas holders as a hazardous site. [2] The objection of the Health and Safety Executive was rejected by the Secretary of State and planning inspector. [12]
In 1999, plans were announced to dismantle all of the United Kingdom's gasholders due to being made largely redundant due to improvements in gas storage. [13] This was intended to include the Oval Gas Holders. [14] In March 2012 Lambeth Council locally listed the three gas holders of 1874, 1876 and 1892 (No.4, No.5 and No.1). In 2015, Lawrence D'Silva, a 26 year old local resident, presented a case to Historic England to make the gasholders listed buildings. [15] [16] Subsequently, Historic England assessed them all for national listing and in March 2016 decided to grant Grade II listed status to just one of the Oval Gasholders – No.1 (the largest of them) dating from 1892. The national listing designation supersedes the local listing status of this gasometer so Gasholder No. 1 was subsequently removed from the Local list by Lambeth – Nos. 4 & 5 remain locally listed. There is a strong presumption in the planning decision-making process against the demolition of a nationally listed heritage asset. [3]
Oval is a London Underground station in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is on the Northern line between Kennington and Stockwell stations and is in Travelcard Zone 2. It opened on 18 December 1890 as part of the City and South London Railway and is named after The Oval cricket ground, which it serves.
The Oval, currently named for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since it was opened in 1845. It was the first ground in England to host international Test cricket in September 1880. The final Test match of the English season is traditionally played there.
A gas holder or gasholder, also known as a gasometer, is a large container in which natural gas or town gas is stored near atmospheric pressure at ambient temperatures. The volume of the container follows the quantity of stored gas, with pressure coming from the weight of a movable cap. Typical volumes for large gas holders are about 50,000 cubic metres (1,800,000 cu ft), with 60-metre-diameter (200 ft) structures.
The Vienna Gasometers are four gasholder houses, built as part of the municipal gas works in Vienna, Austria. The original gasholder houses were constructed from 1896 to 1899. They are located in the 11th district, Simmering. They were used from 1899 to 1984 to house gas holders, also known as gasometers, each with a storage capacity of 90,000 cubic meters.
A gasworks or gas house is an industrial plant for the production of flammable gas. Many of these have been made redundant in the developed world by the use of natural gas, though they are still used for storage space.
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Kennington Common was a swathe of common land mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth. It was one of the earliest venues for cricket around London, with matches played between 1724 and 1785. The common was also used for public executions, fairs and public gatherings. Important orators spoke there, addressing crowds numbering tens of thousands.
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The East Greenwich Gas Works of the South Metropolitan Gas Company was the last gas works to be built in London, and the most modern. Originally manufacturing town gas from coal brought in by river and exporting coke and chemicals, the plant was adapted to produce gas from oil in the 1960s. Nothing remains of any of the gas holders; the last gas holder, built in 1886, was dismantled in 2020.
The Launceston Gasworks is a former industrial site located in the CBD of Launceston, Tasmania. The site was the principal supplier of gas to the City of Launceston before the importation of LPG in the 1970s. The gasworks produced gas by heating coal and siphoning off the gas that it released before refining and storing it on site in a set of 3, steel frame gasometers. The first buildings on site were the horizontal retort buildings built in 1860 from sandstone and local brick. The site was later used by Origin Energy as their Launceston LPG outlet. The site is instantly recognizable by its 1930s, steel braced, vertical retort building with the words "COOK WITH GAS" in the brickwork.
A gasholder house is a type of structure that was used to surround an iron gas holder, also known as a gasometer, in which coal gas was stored until it was needed. There are approximately a dozen of these structures—most constructed of brick in the latter-half of the 19th century—that still stand in the United States. Some examples still stand in Europe as well.
Sir Corbet Woodall was an English gas engineer. He was Governor of the Gas Light and Coke Company from 1906 to 1916.
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Newstead Gasworks is a heritage-listed former gasometer at 70 Longland Street, Teneriffe, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1873 to 1887. It is also known as Brisbane Gas Company Gasworks and Newstead Gasworks No.2 gasholder. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 24 June 2005.
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