View from SSE showing gasholder

Description View from SSE showing gasholder

Date 14/8/1970

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

Catalogue Number SC 766088

Category On-line Digital Images

Scope and Content Girvan Gas Works, Gas Lane, Girvan, South Ayrshire This shows the gasholder, with the main purifiers on the left and the offices on the right. In the foreground is the weighbridge used to measure the weight of materials entering and leaving the works. The holder stored gas for peak periods of consumption, and also ensured that the pressure was constant. To prepare coal gas for customers the tar and ammonia were removed, and were saleable. This left hydrogen sulphide as the last unwanted impurity, which was removed in purifiers before sale to customers. 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 H35/70/48/39

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/766088

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap