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Bradford on Avon Gasworks

Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire

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On 6th December 1833 Bradford’s Parish Vestry asked ratepayers for funds to pay for lighting the town under the Lighting & Watching Act 1833. The Bradford Gas and Coke Company was founded in 1834, primarily to supply gas for street lighting, but the provision of gas was eventually extended to cover much of the town’s domestic and industrial needs. The date is recorded in the gable of the building. In 1902 the company gained powers from Parliament by the Bradford Gas Act, but was dissolved in 1949 and nationalised as part of the South Western Gas Board under the 1948 Gas Act. By the 1960s the works were no longer producing gas and the site was used by the Urban District Council, but the gas holder continued in use for several years.

Gas was obtained by heating coal in large ovens, leaving the coal in the form of coke, which had uses in industrial furnaces and domestic fires. Another by-product was tar, mostly used in waterproofing and later for surfacing roads. Other useful chemicals could be extracted in the process of purifying the gas.

This was one of the very few reminders of Bradford’s gas street lighting that remained until recently. It was next to the railway bridge in St Margaret’s Street, but disappeared when the bridge was rebuilt in 2023-4.

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The British Gas Light & Coke Company Ltd began to supply Wingfield with gas from Trowbridge in 1880.