The East Greenwich Gas Works of the South Metropolitan Gas Company was the last

gas works A gasworks or gas house is an industrial plant for the production of flammable gas. Many of these have been made redundant in the developed world by the use of natural gas, though they are still used for storage space. Early gasworks Coal ...

to be built in London, and the most modern. Originally manufacturing

town gas Coal gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made from coal and supplied to the user via a piped distribution system. It is produced when coal is heated strongly in the absence of air. Town gas is a more general term referring to manufactured gaseous ...

from coal brought in by river and exporting coke and chemicals, the plant was adapted to produce gas from oil in the 1960s. Nothing remains of any of the gas holders; the last gas holder, built in 1886, was dismantled in 2020. East_Greenwich_gasometer,_Blackwall_Lane_-_geograph

East_Greenwich_gasometer,_Blackwall_Lane_-_geograph

Location

Located on the

Greenwich Peninsula The Greenwich Peninsula is an area of Greenwich in South London, South East London, England. It is bounded on three sides by a loop of the River Thames, Thames, between the Isle of Dogs to the west and Silvertown to the east. To the south is the ...

by the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

in south-east

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, the works was built between 1881 and 1886. Most of the works was built on a

greenfield site Greenfield land is a British English term referring to undeveloped land in an urban or rural area In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low po ...

on Greenwich Marshes. The start of work on the site was complicated by proposals to build a dock system on the peninsula, similar to that on the

Isle of Dogs The Isle of Dogs is a large peninsula bounded on three sides by a large meander in the River Thames in East London, England, which includes the Cubitt Town, Millwall and Canary Wharf districts. The area was historically part of the Manor, Ham ...

across the river. Originally proposed in the 1850s, this plan was resurrected in the 1880s, but eventually came to nothing.

History

The works was built under the auspices of the South Metropolitan Gas Company's chairman George Livesey. Before construction could begin many tons of clinker and heavy rubbish were dumped in order to build up the marshy ground.Mary Mills, ''Greenwich Marsh: The 300 Years Before the Dome'', London: M.Wright, 1999, The gas works eventually occupied most of the east and centre of the peninsula, stretching for around from Blackwall Point, southeast towards

New Charlton Charlton Riverside, previously known as New Charlton, is the area along the south bank of the river Thames at Charlton, London, which forms part of the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It was formerly a primarily industrial zone, known for the glass a ...

and covering some .Carr R.J.M (Ed),''Dockland: An illustrated historical survey of life and work in east London'', NELP/GLC, 1986, The works took over the chemical works of Frank Hills at Phoenix Wharf on the east side of the peninsula, which already used

tar Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black bit ...

and

ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride, and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Biologically, it is a common nitrogenous was ...

from existing gas works. In 1889 (during a time of labour unrest including the 1889 dock strike) under the leadership of

Will Thorne William James Thorne CBE (4 October 1857 – 2 January 1946) was a British trade unionist, activist and one of the first Labour Members of Parliament. Early years Thorne was born in Hockley, Birmingham, on 8 October 1857. His father and other ...

the workforce resigned en masse in an attempt to prevent a profit-sharing scheme with anti-strike clauses. Livesey successfully brought in labour from outside to replace the workforce. The site had two very large gas holders. The first, built in 1886 and of was the world's first 'four lift' (moving section) holder. The second, with six lifts and originally the largest in the world at , was reduced to when it was damaged in the

Silvertown explosion The Silvertown explosion occurred in Silvertown in West Ham, Essex (now part of the London Borough of Newham, in Greater London) on Friday, 19 January 1917 at 6:52 pm. The blast occurred at a munitions factory that was manufacturing explos ...

in 1917, but was still the largest in England until it was damaged again by a

Provisional Irish Republican Army The Irish Republican Army (IRA; ), also known as the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and informally as the Provos, was an Irish republican paramilitary organisation that sought to end British rule in Northern Ireland, facilitate Irish reun ...

bomb in 1978. It was later demolished. An extensive internal railway system carried coal from a large coaling pier to the rest of the plant. In the 1920s the Government Fuel Research Station next to the works (on land owned by the company) began research into

coal liquefaction Coal liquefaction is a process of converting coal into liquid hydrocarbons: liquid fuels and petrochemicals. This process is often known as "Coal to X" or "Carbon to X", where X can be many different hydrocarbon-based products. However, the most c ...

in order to make petroleum. It also performed surveys of the properties of coal, and is believed to have carried out chemical weapons research. This closed in 1958, its work transferring to the

Warren Spring Laboratory Warren Spring Laboratory was a UK government environmental science research centre that operated in Stevenage, Hertfordshire from 1958 until its closure in 1994. Described by '' New Scientist'' as "Britain's leading laboratory for environmental ...

. Following nationalisation of the gas industry in 1949 the plant was taken over by the

South Eastern Gas Board The area gas boards were created under the provisions of the Gas Act 1948 enacted by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government. The Act nationalised the British gas industry and also created the Gas Council. History From the early 19th centur ...

, later passing to

British Gas plc British Gas plc was an energy and home services provider in the United Kingdom. It was formed when the British Gas Corporation was privatised as a result of the Gas Act 1986, instigated by the government of Margaret Thatcher and superseding the G ...

. In the early 1960s oil gasification plant was introduced, greatly increasing capacity. In 1965 the site produced around of gas, the largest in the world for a single site. After introduction of

North Sea gas North Sea oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons, comprising liquid petroleum and natural gas, produced from petroleum reservoirs beneath the North Sea. In the petroleum industry, the term "North Sea" often includes areas such as the Norwegian Sea and ...

production ceased in 1976. The gasification plant was mothballed for many years, but eventually demolished. A striking pre-cast concrete shed at Phoenix Wharf for storage of

ammonium sulphate Ammonium sulfate (American English and international scientific usage; ammonium sulphate in British English); (NH4)2SO4, is an inorganic salt with a number of commercial uses. The most common use is as a soil fertilizer. It contains 21% nitrogen a ...

with a parabolic roof was used as a site for film shoots in the 1990s. It was demolished on the pretext that illegal

rave A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...

parties were held there. It was also used frequently in the detective series

Dempsey and Makepeace ''Dempsey and Makepeace'' is a British television crime drama made by LWT for ITV, created and produced by Ranald Graham. Lead roles were played by Michael Brandon (Lieutenant Dempsey) and Glynis Barber (Detective Makepeace), who later married e ...

Decontamination and redevelopment

Initial

decontamination Decontamination (sometimes abbreviated as decon, dcon, or decontam) is the process of removing contaminants on an object or area, including chemicals, micro-organisms or radioactive substances. This may be achieved by chemical reaction, disinfecti ...

was carried out by

BAM Nuttall BAM Nuttall Limited (formerly known as Edmund Nuttall Limited) is a construction and civil engineering company headquartered in Camberley, United Kingdom. It has been involved in a portfolio of road, rail, nuclear, and other major projects worldw ...

for British Gas, with the development being known as Port Greenwich. This included excavation to to remove tar from the aquifer and driving a diameter sheet pile ring into the

London Clay The London Clay Formation is a marine geological formation of Ypresian (early Eocene Epoch, c. 56–49 million years ago) age which crops out in the southeast of England. The London Clay is well known for its fossil content. The fossils from t ...

. Around 120 tons of

benzene Benzene is an organic chemical compound with the molecular formula C6H6. The benzene molecule is composed of six carbon atoms joined in a planar ring with one hydrogen atom attached to each. Because it contains only carbon and hydrogen atoms, ...

and other

hydrocarbon In organic chemistry, a hydrocarbon is an organic compound consisting entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Hydrocarbons are examples of group 14 hydrides. Hydrocarbons are generally colourless and hydrophobic, and their odors are usually weak or ex ...

s was removed from the soil. Further decontamination was performed by

English Partnerships English Partnerships (EP) was the national regeneration agency for England, performing a similar role on a national level to that fulfilled by regional development agencies on a regional level. On 1 December 2008 its powers passed to a successor ...

. Redevelopment began in the early 1990s with the construction of

North Greenwich tube station North Greenwich is a London Underground station served by the Jubilee line. Despite its name, it is not in the local area historically known as North Greenwich, on the Isle of Dogs, north of the River Thames; a completely different North Green ...

as part of the

Jubilee Line Extension The Jubilee Line Extension (JLE) is the extension of the London Underground Jubilee line from to through south and east London. An eastward extension of the line was first proposed in the 1970s. As part of the development of London Docklands, ...

. The future station led the site to be chosen for the site of the

Millennium Dome The Millennium Dome was the original name of the large dome-shaped building on the Greenwich Peninsula in South East (London sub region), South East London, England, which housed a major exhibition celebrating the beginning of the third millenn ...

, originally intended to be a temporary structure to be removed after 2000 – now

The O2 Arena The O2 Arena, commonly known as the O2 (stylised as The O2 arena), is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the centre of the O2 entertainment complex on the Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London. It opened in its present form in 2007. It has the s ...

. The site is covered by many developments, principally

The O2 The O2 is a large entertainment district on the Greenwich peninsula in South East London, England, including an indoor arena, a music club, a Cineworld cinema, an exhibition space, piazzas, bars, and restaurants. It was built largely within ...

, North Greenwich Underground station, a retail park and multiplex cinema, a hotel, primary school,

Greenwich Peninsula Ecology Park The Greenwich Peninsula Ecology Park is a park situated along the River Thames in the Greenwich Peninsula in South London. The park reflects the nature of the original marshland on the peninsula. The park provides a haven for many different specie ...

and

Greenwich Millennium Village Greenwich Millennium Village (GMV) is a mixed-tenure modern development on an urban village model located on the Greenwich Peninsula in Greenwich, in south-east London, and part of the Millennium Communities Programme under English Partnerships ...

. Several sites remain to be developed. Two small sections of the plant's coaling jetty are preserved as part of

North Greenwich Pier North Greenwich Pier is a pier on the River Thames, London, England. It is situated on the Greenwich Peninsula in south-east London, to the east of the O2. The pier was formerly named QEII Pier after Queen Elizabeth II. History North Greenwich ...

, one acting as the base for

Anthony Gormley Sir Antony Mark David Gormley (born 30 August 1950) is a British sculptor. His works include the ''Angel of the North'', a public sculpture in Gateshead in the north of England, commissioned in 1994 and erected in February 1998; ''Another Pl ...

's sculpture ''

Quantum Cloud The ''Quantum Cloud'' is a contemporary sculpture, designed by Antony Gormley, located next to The O2 in London. The sculpture was commissioned for the site and was completed in 1999. At high, it is Gormley's tallest sculpture to date (taller ...

''.

Deconstruction

In July 2019 deconstruction begun on the last East Greenwich Gas Works gasholder. From February 2020 until present, the deconstruction of the outer framework is taking place. GreenwichGasWorksMidDeconstruction

External links

Mr MacDonald">Ramsay MacDonald, Mr MacDonald
at Greenwich Fuel Research Station – British Pathe newsreel

References