Gasholder No 2, Fulham Gasworks

Gasholder. Built in 1829-1830 to the design of John Kirkham of the Imperial Gas Light Company. The contractors were a Mr Ward, junior, and a Mr Wright.

MATERIALS: Cast-iron guide standards, a wrought-iron bell and brick tank.

DESCRIPTION: Gasholder No 2 comprises 12 free-standing cast-iron guide standards or tripods, which serve as buttresses to support a water-sealed bell (gas vessel) as it rises or falls from the in-ground tank (Type 20 in Tucker’s Typology). It has a total capacity of 226,000 cubic feet and is considered to have been the largest in the world built at that time. Each tripod is 30 feet high, tee-shaped in plan and triangular in section. There are roundels, gradually diminishing in size towards the top, set within the open-webbed cast-iron frames. One of the tripods has a cast-iron plate attached to the outside edge containing the number ‘2’ in raised lettering. Another tripod has a fixed access ladder with a safety cage running to the top, providing access when the gasholder was full. The single-lift iron bell has a gently domed crown with a wrought-iron framework covered in sheets. This framework comprises lenticular trusses of wrought-iron bars, set radially about a tubular cast-iron king post at the centre, forming a trussed crown. The upper members or ribs, on which the sheeting rests, are flat radial bars set on edge, the lower members are round bars and the vertical and diagonal members are round bars with forged ends. The ribs are held laterally by forged wrought-iron bars in a herringbone arrangement and light purlins of rolled angle iron. The framework is joined together with hand-made, square-headed bolts and nuts. When inspected in 1949, original fitters’ marks were clearly visible. The sides of the bell, which rest on the bottom of the tank, are expected to be framed with similar materials. The king post is supported in the rest position by a masonry pillar standing on the dumpling (the cone of earth at the centre of the in-ground tank). The bell is covered with wrought-iron sheets; the crown or top of the bell with double-riveted 13-gauge sheets and the sides with single-riveted 12-gauge sheets. Re-sheeting was carried out in 1882 with some further replacement of the sheeting in 1949. A metal handrail runs alongside the outside of the bell. There are 12 guide carriages attached to the upper part of the bell, in the form of double-flanged rollers which rise or fall on flat guide rails attached to the inside edge of the tripods. The lower part of the bell has 24 rings running on guide rods or slippers within the tank. The brick tank is 100 feet in diameter and 29 feet 6 inches deep. A low brick wall topped by a metal handrail runs around the perimeter of the tank.