The Gashouse At Shepherds Dene

BROOMHAUGH AND RIDING

1616/0/10010 RIDING HILL 24-JUN-04 The gashouse at Shepherds Dene

GV II Gas house, now a store, c.1906-7, associated with the main house of Shepherd's Dene to the west. Octagonal, of roughly squared rubble sandstone with dressed blocks for lintels and sills, octagonal roof covered in thin tiles of mineral felt with angled corners. Wooden ventilator finial of square plan, lower section with tall pierced panels sheltered by wide dentilled coping, below tall tapered and coped finial. South facing door of flat boarded panels, flanked by two window openings, now boarded. Interior: plastered. Tap at east side and wide drain below with a hole out through the side wall. Exposed panel in rear wall with timber at intervals, suggesting a wall fitting. Acetylene gas, discovered in 1836, was used as a lighting source and was well established by the end of the nineteenth century. It was produced by combining calcium carbide and water, a potentially explosive process which meant that it was best carried out away from the house.