Gasholder No. 8

Gasholder guide frame, originally built in 1883 to the design of the engineer John Clark by the contractor Westwood and Wright for the Gas Light and Coke Company. Relocated from the original gasworks, about 300m to the south, following the expansion of St Pancras Railway Station when the gasholder tank was buried or demolished and the bell destroyed. The guide frame was dismantled in about 2001, restored by Shepley Engineers, and re-erected surrounding a park on the site in 2014.

MATERIALS: cast-iron columns and wrought-iron girders.

DESCRIPTION: a circular gasholder guide frame comprising two tiers of cast-iron columns joined by horizontal wrought-iron lattice girders (‘Type 14’ in Tucker’s typology of gasholders). The lowest tier of columns is in the Doric order and the topmost in a simplified version of the Corinthian. Each column supports an entablature bearing the classical sequence of mouldings; all rise to a cornice but the Doric order supports a triglyph and the Corinthian a frieze and then a dentilled cornice. The columns are made of shorter sections which are bolted together on the inside. The capitals and entablature blocks also conceal joints at the head of each tier. At the bottom of the lower columns are plaques stating the date at which the gasholder guide frame was first erected: 1883. Attached to the inside edge of each column are the guide rails for the roller carriages upon which the bell of the gasholder originally rose (filled with gas) and fell (emptied). The roller carriages have been retained and are adjoined to the guide rails. The columns are linked together at the level of the entablature blocks by I-section 60 degree-triple-warren lattice girders, which are fabricated from sections of flat plate and angle that are riveted together.

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 11/03/2020