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OF BRENTFORD |
one of the first gasworks in the world was built. However
this was also perhaps its misfortune, since the gasworks
was not a pretty sight. Its grim and ugly prison-like
walls stretched for a quarter of a mile along both sides
of the High Street from the Grand Junction Waterworks to
Ealing Rd. At its greatest extent it covered four acres
on the north side, four and a half on the south. Let us
be truthful the entrance to Brentford is like the gate to
Hell. Already the gasworks and coal yards are there for
stoking the punishing fires…so wrote Cecil Roberts
describing his journey to Bath in 1940.
The story began in 1820 when a firm called Messrs J&G
Barlow secured a contract to light by gas the turnpike
road from Kensington to Hounslow (it was felt this might
deter the activities of highway men). Messrs Barlow built
a small gasworks on a riverside site to take advantage of
coal deliveries by barge (until the advent of natural gas,
coal was used in the manufacturing process). In 1821
Barlows was absorbed by Brentford Gas Works, a new
company with more powers, established by Act of Parliament
In 1926 the Brentford Gas Works was taken over by the
Gas Light & Coke Company, which considerably extended
the gasworks premises. It supplied gas over 130 square
miles stretching from Hammersmith to Windsor and from
Richmond to Edgware. When the gas industry was nationalised
in 1949 this became the works of the North Thames Gas Board,
but closed in 1963 after natural gas superseded town gas.
Two of the gasholders remained until 1988 when they were
demolished with explosives. nder an Act of 1905 Brentford
was served by the Brentford Electricity Supply Company
Brentford's streets, however, were still lit by gas for
many more years. It wasn't until 1955 that the Council
decided to change the streetlights from gas to electricity
and this work wasn't completed until 1960 when the
Southern Electricity Board supplied electricity.
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