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| The first gasworks. c. 1831; watercolour by an unknown artist |
Continuing with a "A Brief History Of The Jersey Gas Company" compiled by Roger Long from research by Robin S Cox and Rene H Le Vaillant.
First Steps
As with so many things it is thought that the ancient Chinese were the first to make use of a gas obtained from coal but it was not until William Murdoch, in Redruth, Cornwall began examining the possibilities of its application to industrial heating and lighting in 1792 that the age of coal gas was born. Early examples of its use were at the Soho works of Boulton and Watt in Birmingham which were lit in 1798, and the Lyceum Theatre in London in 1803.
Some ten years after the peace of 1815 Jersey property developers in St Helier embarked upon a building programme which was to last for about twenty years. As early as 1827 the local press observed that it was time the streets were lit by gas, if only to protect the public from accidents which were continually occurring after dark, occasioned by piles of building materials left in the public thoroughfares.
The island was then under the control of a two-party system. The ‘Rose’ or Liberal party had a majority in the States and in the Parish of St Helier at this time and were not in favour of great public expenditure, which included the scheme for public street lighting. The opposing political party, the ‘Laurel’ or Conservatives, favoured the introduction of all things new, for their supporters had embarked on the fine new development of the town.
Throughout 1828 the need for street lighting was brought before the eyes of the newspaper-reading public and, with the Laurel party now in the ascendant, some excitement was caused when it was learned that Thomas Edge of the Westminster Gas Works itself had visited the Channel Islands with a view to extending his interests. He met with some resistance in both the islands, in Jersey it being pointed out by some that no self-respecting people were out after 9 p.m., that at most times the moon provided sufficient light and that the local candle-making establishments, of which there were five, would suffer very greatly if this piped gas was to become commonplace in private houses.
Edge persevered and at a meeting of the Parish of St Helier on 28th April 1830 he was granted permission to dig up public roads to lay the necessary conduits.
On 7th June 1830, he bought from Philippe de Quettevllle, the Laurel Constable of St Helier, twenty-four and a half perches of ground in what was then known as Le Jardin de Middleton. This plot had an eighty-foot frontage both on La Ruette de la Commune to the north, now Gas Place, and on a new private road, now Robin Place. The surrounding area was at the time truly industrial and contained a ropewalk, slaughterhouses and one of the island’s principal brickļ¬elds.
Edge had for his local manager Thomas Snowdon Peckston. They advertised for local builders to construct two masonry gas reservoirs. 32 feet wide by 16 feet 6 inches deep, and a 5 feet 6 inches wide syphon pit, and by August 1830 the press had noted the laying down of conduits in various streets of the town.
At a meeting of the States of Jersey on 15 February 1831 a report of the Harbours and Piers Committee recommended that public gas lighting should be installed around the harbour which then consisted of the Old North Pier, Commercial Buildings, Le Quai des Marchands and the New South Pier only.
The long-awaited supply of coal gas to the public took place on Saturday 12 March 1831. The successful inauguration of the network was marked by the illumination of what is now the United Club in the Royal Square by a large star and the letters A R (Altesse Royale) on the following Monday 14 March.
First Steps
As with so many things it is thought that the ancient Chinese were the first to make use of a gas obtained from coal but it was not until William Murdoch, in Redruth, Cornwall began examining the possibilities of its application to industrial heating and lighting in 1792 that the age of coal gas was born. Early examples of its use were at the Soho works of Boulton and Watt in Birmingham which were lit in 1798, and the Lyceum Theatre in London in 1803.
Some ten years after the peace of 1815 Jersey property developers in St Helier embarked upon a building programme which was to last for about twenty years. As early as 1827 the local press observed that it was time the streets were lit by gas, if only to protect the public from accidents which were continually occurring after dark, occasioned by piles of building materials left in the public thoroughfares.
The island was then under the control of a two-party system. The ‘Rose’ or Liberal party had a majority in the States and in the Parish of St Helier at this time and were not in favour of great public expenditure, which included the scheme for public street lighting. The opposing political party, the ‘Laurel’ or Conservatives, favoured the introduction of all things new, for their supporters had embarked on the fine new development of the town.
Throughout 1828 the need for street lighting was brought before the eyes of the newspaper-reading public and, with the Laurel party now in the ascendant, some excitement was caused when it was learned that Thomas Edge of the Westminster Gas Works itself had visited the Channel Islands with a view to extending his interests. He met with some resistance in both the islands, in Jersey it being pointed out by some that no self-respecting people were out after 9 p.m., that at most times the moon provided sufficient light and that the local candle-making establishments, of which there were five, would suffer very greatly if this piped gas was to become commonplace in private houses.
Edge persevered and at a meeting of the Parish of St Helier on 28th April 1830 he was granted permission to dig up public roads to lay the necessary conduits.
On 7th June 1830, he bought from Philippe de Quettevllle, the Laurel Constable of St Helier, twenty-four and a half perches of ground in what was then known as Le Jardin de Middleton. This plot had an eighty-foot frontage both on La Ruette de la Commune to the north, now Gas Place, and on a new private road, now Robin Place. The surrounding area was at the time truly industrial and contained a ropewalk, slaughterhouses and one of the island’s principal brickļ¬elds.
Edge had for his local manager Thomas Snowdon Peckston. They advertised for local builders to construct two masonry gas reservoirs. 32 feet wide by 16 feet 6 inches deep, and a 5 feet 6 inches wide syphon pit, and by August 1830 the press had noted the laying down of conduits in various streets of the town.
At a meeting of the States of Jersey on 15 February 1831 a report of the Harbours and Piers Committee recommended that public gas lighting should be installed around the harbour which then consisted of the Old North Pier, Commercial Buildings, Le Quai des Marchands and the New South Pier only.
The long-awaited supply of coal gas to the public took place on Saturday 12 March 1831. The successful inauguration of the network was marked by the illumination of what is now the United Club in the Royal Square by a large star and the letters A R (Altesse Royale) on the following Monday 14 March.
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| Plan of the original works in Gas Lane, c1840 |
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