Gas Worker by Stephen Adam, c 1878. One of a series of twenty stained glass windows made for Maryhill Burgh Halls showing local trades and professions, this one depicts a gas worker stoking a furnace with gas plant in the background.
During the 19th century coal gas was widely used for lighting homes, businesses and public areas. The gas was produced by heating coal in an air-free retort (creating coke as a by-product of the process. The first gas companies in Glasgow were privately owned, but in 1869 they were purchased by the town council which established the municipal Gas Department.
Dawsholm Gas Works was built in Skaethorn Road, 1871-1872, at a cost of £160,000. It replaced the ageing Townhead Gas Works which had been established in 1817 and closed in 1874. The Dawsholm Gas Works consisted of a large complex of buildings including a red brick retort house, office blocks, houses and a plate girder railway bridge linking the site to the Forth and Clyde Canal. The site is now occupied by a housing estate.
Reference: 621.86.34
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Museums
Keywords:
bridges, canals, coal gas, coke, Dawsholm Gas Works, Forth and Clyde Canal, gas producers, gas workers, Maryhill Burgh Halls, retort houses, stained glass windows, Townhead Gas Works
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