Interior View of retort house showing man working

Description Interior View of retort house showing man working

Date 14/8/1970

Collection Papers of Professor John R Hume, economic and industrial historian, Glasgow, Scotland

Catalogue Number SC 765909

Category On-line Digital Images

Scope and Content Girvan Gas Works, Gas Lane, Girvan, South Ayrshire This shows one of the retorts being prepared for discharging, while the second retort man looks on. The retorts were made of fireclay, and had a D-section. A layer of coal was spread on the bottom of the retort, and when all the gas had been distilled off the residual coke was removed. Until the 1970s many Glasgow families holidayed in Girvan, and other Clyde resorts, such as Rothesay, Largs, Ayr and Dunoon. The development of cheap Mediterranean holidays ended that practice. Girvan Gas Works closed in the mid-1970s when the town was connected to the Gas Grid. This was one of the last coal-gas works in Ayrshire, and still used hand-charged retorts in 1970. It was relatively large because of the number of summer visitors, most of whom stayed in boarding houses. The retort house had an opening to the street, allowing the operation of the works to be viewed by small boys. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

External Reference H35/70/47/3

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/765909

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap