EPW058236 ENGLAND (1938). The Severn Valley Gas Corporation Ltd Gas Works and adjacent Spring Cotton Mill, Roaches, 1938

The first gas works in this location was built by the Stalybridge Gas Company in 1862 and is shown by the pin. The 100 foot diameter gas holders were part of this original development. Through an Act of parliament it became the property of the new Borough of Mossley in 1885 and served Mossley and most of Saddleworth.



Lack of capacity and difficulties with getting material on and off site led to the building of a new works alongside the railway which was formally opened on June 22nd 1931 by the Rt. Hon. The Earl of Derby, K.G. The retort house for is visible in the foreground. The existing gasometers were retained.



In 1934 Mossley Corporation sold the undertaking to the Mossley and Saddleworth Gas Company Ltd. which was then absorbed by the holding company Gas Consolidation Ltd. (Severn Valley Gas Corporation Ltd and Palatine Gas Corporation Ltd). In 1949 the undertaking vested in the North Cheshire Group of the North Western Gas Board.



The retort house was extended around 1950 (and photographed by Aerofilms again in 1951). The works closed, as I recall, in 1959 but I have no confirmation of the date.