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 766059

Category On-line Digital Images

Scope and Content Girvan Gas Works, Gas Lane, Girvan, South Ayrshire This shows a barrow-load of red-hot coke from a newly-discharged retort being placed in an enclosure in which water will be sprayed on to the coke to 'quench' it, that is, to cool it down to stop it burning. Some of the coke was used to heat the retorts, and the rest was sold as domestic fuel. 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 H35/70/48/24

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/766059

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap