Gas holders, also incorrectly referred to as gasometers - they don't measure anything - were once a common sight in UK towns and cities. They provided a means to store gas, and to maintain the downstream supply at what is called district pressure.
The first gas holder in the UK was erected in 1798, at the Soho Manufactory, in Birmingham. The water-sealed telescopic form, which came to dominate, was invented in 1824, the first constructed in Leeds. The earliest telescopic holders had two lifts, supported by columns. Later models had up to four, frame-guided, lifts. In 1890 William Gadd, of Manchester, invented the spiral-guided gas holder, the helical runners of which obviated the need for an exoskeleton. The last of these was built in 1983.
The gas was stored at near atmospheric pressure, the necessary weight applied by the heavy cap. The tank containing the gas floated in a reservoir of water, which provided the necessary seal, and rose and fell as the volume of stored gas either increased or decreased. A lipped channel around the base of each lift picked up water from the reservoir as the gas holder rose, thus maintaining the seal.
The holders were often sited next to plants producing town gas from coal, but were steadily adapted to store natural gas. Typical volumes for the larger holders, up to 200 feet in diameter, were 1.8 million cubic feet. As a nationwide network of pressurized pipes and regulators for provision of natural gas was developed the holders increasingly became redundant. A few still serve to balance pressure in the pipe network, but in 2013 National Grid announced plans to steadily remove the gas holders of England and Wales. SGN has similar plans for those in Scotland.
The three gas holders visible from the Aston Expressway, Birmingham, were decommissioned between 2009 and 2011. The conjoined pair, erected in 1885, were once part of the Windsor Street Gas Works; sometime in the 1980s they were painted in the claret and blue colours of nearby Aston Villa Football Club. National Grid has been granted permission to demolish all three holders, which are expected to disappear in 2020.
(Second photograph by Abi Smith.)
