THE ROTHERHITHE GAS WORKS.
Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 1:32 am
The Rotherhithe Gasworks was established in 1851 following the foundation of the Surrey Consumers Gas Company (also known as the Surrey Consumers Gas Association) in 1849, opening in 1855 in competition with Phoenix, occupying the land that had formerly housed the Daniel Bennett and Sons Oil Works. The small company already owned a small gasworks in Deptford, and with the establishment of the Rotherhithe site could supply the Rotherhithe peninsula, extend into Bermondsey and eventually parts of Southwark. At the time of construction, a wharf was built to accompany the gasworks, and an iron bridge was built to transport coal across Rotherhithe Street to the gasworks beyond, in barrows. The coal was shipped in from the northeast, where it was mined. The gasometers were established at that time. Numbers 1 and 2 had a capacity of 1,600,000 cubic feet between them, there were three by 1868. In 1879 the South Metropolitan Gas Company took over the site.