Harford Street Gasworks, Tower Hamlets (HFD99)

Clients: Bellway Homes Urban Renewal Southern

Author: Kieron Tyler

Site supervisor: Kieron Tyler

MoLAS was commissioned to record a group of standing structures which related to the use of the site by the former Commercial Gas Company. The site was located north of Ben Jonson Road and east of Harford Street, London E1. Its eastern boundary was defined by the Regent's Canal.

Fieldwork was undertaken by digital survey and photography to provide an archive record of a group of structures which were integral to the earliest processes at the site: Gasholder 1, Gasholder 2, Gasholder 3, the earliest perimeter walls and the remains of a canal-side elevated tramway. Although all three gasholders were extensively altered in 1892, Gasholder 1 was completed in 1864, and Gasholders 2 and 3 were completed in 1854. The truncated perimeter walls were originally parts of buildings constructed c 1853–4 and c 1870–91.

This project represented the first time that a historic gasworks had been recorded in such a way. The comprehensive and accurate digital survey of the site produced detailed drawings of the structures and their component elements, including isometric reconstruction drawings of the complete gasholders. The photographic record was greatly enhanced by close-on access to high-level structures from an elevated platform.

In addition to the drawn and photographic record, the report included a contextualising section on the gas industry, a chronology of the Commercial Gas Company and historic information on the site and its uses.

The structures were to be demolished in order to redevelop the site, and the archaeological investigation and a subsequent report were commissioned from MoLAS in advance of the development. The investigation took place in Nov and Dec 2002.

This site report is extracted from MoLAS 2003: annual review