Former Gasworks, 44 Irish Quarter West, Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, BT38 8AT

Former Gasworks, 44 Irish Quarter West, Carrickfergus, County Antrim

This is an extensive complex of buildings and structures used for gas making and storage between 1855 and 1987, now operating as Flame! The Gasworks Museum of Ireland. The site is of international significance owing to the remarkable survival of its 19th-century gas manufacturing technology — it is the only complete Victorian gasworks now surviving in Ireland and one of only three such gasworks in the British Isles. The spatial organisation of the site directly reflects the gas production process, and the various additions made over 130 years of operation are clearly legible. The high survival of machinery is particularly remarkable: the retorts are the largest surviving set in the whole of western Europe. The gasworks is also of considerable social interest, having supplied Carrickfergus with light, heat and power before the advent of electricity. Most of the site is enclosed in rubble stone walling, with some brick walling to the south boundary.

Historical Background

In 1854, a group of local businessmen formed the Carrickfergus Gas Company to supply the town with gas lighting. Three thousand pounds were raised to acquire land in Irish Quarter West, erect buildings, purchase equipment and lay gas mains through the streets. A contract was signed with the Town Commissioners to supply 42 street lights with gas for 31 years at £60 per year. These were lit for the first time on 17 September 1855, an occasion marked by a celebratory feast in the Town Hall. The superiority of gas lighting over oil lamps quickly attracted custom: 171 customers signed up in the first year alone, rising to 242 by 1905. Over that period, the average amount of gas used per customer tripled, driven by the introduction of gas cookers, heaters, incandescent mantles and prepayment meters, and by a steady fall in the price of gas. Additional retorts and a second gasholder were installed in the decades either side of 1900 to meet this demand.

Because the works had relatively few industrial users and depended mostly on domestic consumption, receipts were modest. This made it uneconomic to adopt the more efficient vertical retorts introduced at many other gasworks during the early 20th century. As a result, the early Victorian process of producing gas using horizontal retorts persisted for well over a century, and second-hand equipment was imported from other gasworks as the need and opportunity arose.

A major development came in 1949 with the construction of the Sunnylands Estate on the outskirts of the town. To meet the increased demand, a third retort house was built, a new gasholder erected and much of the purification plant replaced. Unlike many other provincial works, Carrickfergus remained in private ownership for most of its working life. In 1962 it was taken over by Belfast Corporation Gas Department. By this time, coal-gas production had become prohibitively expensive owing to the cost of coal and labour, and production ceased in 1964. The site was then connected to the Corporation's new gas plant on the Belfast Harbour estate at Sydenham, where gas was made from naphtha — a by-product of oil refining and a much cheaper and cleaner process. From that point, Carrickfergus served as a storage and distribution facility for this reformed gas, supplying several thousand consumers around the town. The spiralling price of oil eventually forced the closure of Ulster's gas industry, and Carrickfergus Gasworks closed in 1987.

The following year, the Carrickfergus Gasworks Preservation Society Ltd, a not-for-profit voluntary organisation, was formed to save the site from demolition. The Society persuaded Environment and Heritage Service to purchase the gasworks and lease it to them for 99 years. Restoration as a visitor and educational attraction began in 2000, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Carrickfergus Borough Council, the European Union Regional Development Fund, and Environment and Heritage Service. The restored site reopened in 2002 as Flame! The Gasworks Museum of Ireland. In addition to the gas manufacturing equipment, the premises house an extensive collection of gas-related appliances and a comprehensive library of gas-related publications.

Component 1: Manager's House

A three-bay, two-storey building with a two-storey rear return and outshot, aligned east–west along Irish Quarter South at the north end of the site. It dates from approximately 1855 and was built to house the manager of the gasworks. In 1947 it was converted to offices and a showroom; in 2002 it became a visitor reception area, exhibition rooms and library for Flame.

The roof is pitched with hipped natural slate, with a skylight to the rear return. There is a rendered brick chimney to each gable and one to the return. Rainwater goods are cast iron half-round gutters and downpipes. The walls are random rubble, lined, painted and rendered.

The principal façade faces north onto Irish Quarter West and has stucco quoins at both ends. At the centre is the former vehicular entrance to the site, set within an advanced stucco surround and containing a pair of folding tongue-and-leaf doors; the ground-floor entrance passage has been converted to a reception room. To the left of this opening is a 6/6 timber sliding sash window with a stone cill. To the right is a 2x1-paned timber shop window with a concrete cill. At first-floor level are three 6/3 sliding sash windows, aligned with the ground-floor openings. The east gable was formerly abutted by a single-storey thatched house, the ghost of which is still visible on the masonry.

The south (rear) elevation has a doorway to the centre containing a pair of glazed timber doors with side- and overlights. To the left is a 6/6 sliding sash window. There are two 6/3 sash windows at first-floor level, positioned above the ground-floor openings. The right bay of the rear elevation is abutted by a two-storey return with a hipped natural slate roof, rainwater goods and wall detailing matching those of the main block. There are 6/3 and 6/6 sash windows to the ground and first floors respectively of its west elevation, and a small 1x2-paned window to the first floor of its south elevation. The return's south elevation is abutted by a single-storey extension that was formerly a kitchen and has been converted to public toilets. It has a monopitched natural slate roof, with rainwater goods and walls detailed as before. There is a tongue-and-groove door to its west elevation and a 3x2-paned window to its south elevation. The west gable is abutted by a lower two-storey house; the exposed section of the gable is blank.

Component 2: Governor House and Laboratory

A 1940s two-bay, single-storey building abutting the north and middle retort houses. The roof is pitched corrugated cement-fibre, with half-round cement-fibre gutters and downpipes. The non-abutting walls are of brick. There is a timber door on the west elevation of the south bay, and metal-framed multi-pane windows to the west and north elevations. All openings have concrete heads; the windows have concrete cills.

Component 3: Retort Houses

This group of buildings was the heart of the gasworks, where gas was manufactured from bituminous coal imported from Britain.

3.1 North Retort House A late-1940s single-bay, single-storey building that partly abuts the north elevation of the middle retort house. The roof is pitched corrugated cement-fibre with a raised ridge also of cement-fibre, carried on steel trusses. Cement-fibre half-round gutters and downpipes. The lower sections of the walls are mainly of brick (with some random rubble incorporated into the west gable), and the upper sections are clad with corrugated cement-fibre sheets on a steel framework. There is a steel door at the west end of the north elevation, and continuous glazed panels along the west and north elevations. Fixed timber-framed windows.

3.2 Middle Retort House A single-bay, single-storey building with a pitched natural slate roof with a raised cement-fibre ridge carried on steel trusses and tiled verges. This was the original retort house and dates from 1855. Cement-fibre half-round gutters and downpipes. The lower sections of the walls are random rubble and the upper portions are brick. The west gable has a semi-elliptical brick-arched entrance fitted with a sliding timber door. Semicircular window openings are present on all elevations, none of which retain frames. At the south end of the east gable are the truncated remains of a square brick chimney on a random rubble base, which served the furnaces in all the retort houses.

3.3 South Retort House An early-20th-century single-bay, single-storey building partially abutting the south elevation of the middle retort house. The roof is pitched corrugated cement-fibre with a raised ridge on steel trusses and tiled verges. Cement-fibre half-round gutters and downpipes. The lower sections of the walls are random rubble with a high proportion of concrete block replacement; the upper sections are of brick. On the west gable is an entrance porch with a monopitched slated roof, rubble masonry walls and double-leaf timber doors. There is a semicircular window opening on the gable above the porch, and an identical window to the south elevation; neither retains a frame.

Component 4: Condensers

A pair of tall double-skinned metal condenser tubes used for the removal of tar. As hot gas passed through each column it made contact with the cold inner surfaces, causing suspended tar to condense out.

Component 5: Exhauster House

A single-bay, single-storey building abutting the east gable of the south retort house, probably erected in the 1940s. Here coal gas was drawn from the retorts and condensers and pushed through the purification plant to the gasholder. The roof is pitched artificial (fibre cement) slate with two circular ridge cowls. Cement-fibre half-round gutters and downpipes. Walls are of whitewashed brick. Metal-framed windows and timber doors to the north and south elevations; all openings have concrete heads and the windows have concrete cills.

Component 6: Washer and Scrubber

In the yard immediately south of the exhauster house stands a Livesey Washer for the removal of ammonia from the gas. It was manufactured by Robert Dempster and Sons of Elland, Yorkshire, and this particular example is a second-hand installation dating from 1923. Beside it is a Scrubber by W.C. Holmes and Co. of Huddersfield for the removal of tar fog, dated 1908 and also undoubtedly imported second-hand from elsewhere.

Component 7: Wash Room

A small single-bay, single-storey building abutting the middle and south retort houses, erected in the 1950s for manual staff to take their tea breaks and wash before going home. The roof is monopitched corrugated cement-fibre with steel half-round gutters and downpipes. Brick walls. Timber door to the west end and a 3x3 metal-framed window to the south elevation with a concrete head and cill.

Component 8: Tar Tank

An open steel tank supported on uprights on the outside of the west gable of the middle retort house, accessed by a vertical steel ladder. There is a small defunct Weir pump at the base. Most of the tar produced was sold directly to the general public for use on tin roofs and around the base of walls to counteract damp; some was also sold to Tennants Tar Distillers in Belfast for refining.

Component 9: Workshop

A detached three-bay, single-storey workshop aligned north–south along the east side of the premises. This was where fitters stored the tools required to maintain the works and the gas distribution pipes; small items of metal were also fabricated here, and pipes were bent, threaded and tapped as required. The roof is pitched natural slate with steel half-round gutters and downpipes. The walls are random rubble basalt with dressed basalt quoins and an advanced brick eaves course. Much of the west elevation was replaced with brick in the 1940s; this section was originally open and supported on cast-iron columns. On the yard-facing west elevation are double-leaf timber doors to the north and middle bays, a 4x2 metal-framed window to the middle bay, and a glass brick window to the south bay. On the east elevation is a roller shutter door to the north bay and a brick-infilled doorway to the middle bay. All openings have concrete heads; the windows have concrete cills.

Component 10: Air-Raid Shelter

A Second World War single-bay, single-storey building aligned east–west along the south side of the premises. It was intended for use by gasworks staff and the inhabitants of Irish Quarter South. A gasworks would have been an obvious target, as the blast from an exploding gasholder would have reinforced that of a bomb. At Carrickfergus the main danger was in practice from bombs jettisoned over Belfast Lough after air raids on the city; fortunately the gasworks was never hit. The roof is flat reinforced concrete, projecting beyond the walls on all sides. The brick walls have external pilasters. There are doorways at the east and west ends: the eastern one is infilled with brick and the western one contains a timber door. There are no other openings and no rainwater goods.

Component 11: Iron-Oxide Shed and Tanks

A single-bay, single-storey building aligned east–west towards the south end of the site, dating from the 1940s. Here hydrogen sulphide — the source of the characteristic "rotten eggs" smell associated with all coal gasworks — was removed by passing the gas through purifier boxes containing iron-rich ore, which absorbed it. After approximately six months the ore became saturated and had to be replaced. The spent ore was spread on the floor of this shed and left for about four weeks, during which time oxygen in the air gradually absorbed the sulphide content, revivifying the ore and enabling it to be reused. Yellow sulphur was also formed during this regenerative process, and residual hydrogen sulphide was released as it occurred.

The building has a pitched corrugated cement-fibre roof on steel trusses, with cement-fibre half-round gutters and downpipes. The south side has a concrete block wall; the building is otherwise open on all sides. Along the outside of the west elevation are four iron-oxide tanks of cast-iron construction bearing the inscription "Milbourne's Patent; Sole makers C & W Walker Ltd, Donnington, Newport, Shropshire". These were imported second-hand from a gasworks in England in 1943. An overhead steel beam carries a block and tackle for lifting the lids of the tanks during cleaning. A brick-lined trench protected by a two-bar steel railing runs along the outside face of the tanks, containing the in- and out-gas pipes to and from each tank.

Component 12: Station Meter House

A small single-bay, single-storey building housing the station meter, which measured the total amount of gas produced at the works. The roof is monopitched corrugated cement-fibre with steel half-round gutters and downpipes. Whitewashed brick walls. There is a timber door on the north elevation and no other openings. A low single-bay outshot on the west elevation is similarly detailed and has a small timber hatch on its west elevation.

Component 13: Gasholder 1

A freestanding above-ground double-lift spiral-guided gasholder with a capacity of 5,660 cubic metres (200,000 cubic feet) — approximately two days' gas supply for the town. It was erected in 1949 to meet the demand arising from the construction of the Sunnylands Estate, replacing two earlier holders of which traces remain visible in the yard. The holder was used to store coal gas until May 1967, when it was filled with gas manufactured at Belfast Corporation's Sydenham Works. The tank is still full of water and is of riveted painted sheet steel construction. It is accessed via a steel staircase on the south side, with a walkway and two-bar handrail around the top. The telescopic outer and domed inner lifts are now grounded, but their spiral guide rails and rollers remain clearly visible.

Component 14: Gasholder 2

Only the circular dressed edging stones of the below-ground tank of this 1850s single-lift gasholder are now visible; the superstructure has been removed and the tank infilled. The tank was approximately the same size as that of Gasholder 3 and held 565 cubic metres (20,000 cubic feet) of gas. It was superseded in 1949 by Gasholder 1.

Component 15: Gasholder 3

A column-guided holder dating from 1909 whose two lifts held 1,130 cubic metres (40,000 cubic feet) of gas. Only the below-ground tank survives, the superstructure having been removed when it was superseded by Gasholder 1. The circular tank is lined and paved with brick. At the centre is a conical brick "dumpling" on which the crown of the inner lift formerly rested when the gasholder was empty. A steel and timber footbridge was inserted when the site was converted to a museum, providing access to the top of the dumpling. A submersible pump at the bottom of the tank keeps it free of water. The tank is accessed by a vertical steel ladder down the inside wall, and a wire mesh safety fence has been erected around the void.

Component 16: Dry Coal Shed

A single-bay, single-storey shed aligned east–west opposite the middle retort house. Just prior to conservation, this building was burnt down; the original stone walls were salvaged but the brick upper sections and roof were rebuilt. The roof is a felted Belfast timber truss, continuing over the passage between the shed and the middle retort house. Cement-fibre half-round gutters and downpipes. The lower sections of the walls are random rubble basalt and the upper sections are brick. There are double-leaf timber doors on the east gable and no window openings.

Component 17: Pipe Store

This building is in separate ownership and no longer forms part of the gasworks. It is a small single-bay, single-storey store aligned north–south and abutting the random rubble boundary wall along the west side of the site, just below the manager's house. The roof is formed by a riveted steel water tank supported on brick walls; the tank is greatly deteriorated and no longer capable of holding water, having formerly served as a back-up reservoir for the boiler in the middle retort house. The north, east and south walls are now clad with timber. There is a small doorway at the north end, now blocked by the timber cladding. Windows are 6/6 and 6/3 timber sliding sashes. Rainwater goods are half-round cast iron gutters.