Loading coke at number two pier, Beckton, c. 1960. © NMM
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| Loading coke at number two pier, Beckton, c. 1960. © NMM |
Coke was mainly used in blast furnaces that produced iron. The Beckton works would have been a key supplier of coke to London industry. This photograph shows a collier being loaded with coke at Beckton.
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| Beckton gasworks, August 1970. © NMM |
As the gases from the coal were extracted, they were carried away by wide tubes, then cooled and washed with water. The gas was then cleaned by being exposed to lime in closed purifiers.
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| Beckton gasworks gasometer. © NMM |
The East Greenwich gasometer is still there today. It can be seen by the thousands of commuters who use the A102(M), Blackwall Tunnel Approach, and the Docklands Light Railway.
It was built by George Livesey's South Metropolitan Gas Company to store town gas at their East Greenwich works. The holder was constructed by Samuel Cutler, whose engineering firm was based on the Isle of Dogs.
Cutler and Livesey, the chief designer, faced a difficult task in constructing the holder in marshy conditions. It was built between 1886 and 1888 and was - briefly - the largest in the world, with a capacity of 225,000 cubic metres (8 million cubic feet). It was soon overtaken by its larger (but now demolished) partner, which held 340,000 cubic metres (12 million cubic feet) of gas.
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| East Greenwich gasholders. © NMM |
The surviving gasometer was the first four-lift gasholder. The tank, beneath the holder, is 76 m (250 feet) in diameter. The iron frame is 58 m (190 feet) high - with the highest point more than 61 m (200 feet) above ground level. The frame was made from rolled steel sections.
This photograph shows the original holder alongside its larger partner in the foreground.
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| Chemical production at Beckton gasworks. © NMM |
This residue did not go to waste at Beckton. By 1876 the nearby company Burt, Boulton and Haywood were distilling more than 50 million litres (12 million gallons) of coal tar each year to manufacture chemicals that could then be turned into disinfectant, insecticide and dyes.
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| Lorries of the Gas, Light and Coke Company. © NMM |
This picture is of the Gas, Light and Coke Company's fleet of lorries at Beckton. These were used to deliver the chemicals that were prepared from the by-products of gas production.
Sulphur from the gasworks was, for example, the raw material for local manufacturers of sulphuric acid. This in turn was needed by other nearby companies producing products such as fertilizers.