{{Short description|Former gas works in London}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2017}} {{Use British English|date=February 2017}} [[File:Beckton gas works (3).jpg|thumb|Beckton Gas Works in 1985]]
'''Beckton Gas Works''' was a major London [[gasworks]] built to manufacture [[coal gas]] and other products including [[Coke (fuel)|coke]] from coal. It has been variously described as "the largest such plant in the world"<ref name=winchester>Winchester C (Ed), ''Handling 2,000,000 tons of coal'', Wonders of World Engineering P309-313, The Amalgamated Press, 1937</ref><ref>{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Industries along the Riverside|author=Special Correspondent |department=news |date=16 Mar 1959 |page=xi |issue=54410 |column=A }}</ref> and "the largest gas works in Europe".<ref>Carr R.J.M (Ed), ''Dockland: An illustrated historical survey of life and work in east London'', NELP/GLC, 1986, {{ISBN|0-7168-1611-3}}</ref> It operated from 1870 to 1976, with an associated by-products works that operated from 1879 to 1970. The works were located on [[East Ham]] Level, on the north bank of the [[Thames]] at Gallions Reach, to the west of [[Barking Creek]].
==History== The plant was opened in 1870 by the [[Gas Light and Coke Company]] (GLCC). The name [[Beckton]] was given to the plant and the surrounding area of east London in honour of the company's governor Simon Adams Beck (1803-1883).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Simon_Adams_Beck|title=Simon Adams Beck - Graces Guide|website=www.gracesguide.co.uk|language=en|access-date=2017-12-17}}</ref> It came eventually to manufacture gas for most of London north of the Thames, with numerous smaller works being closed. Its counterpart south of the river was the South Metropolitan Gas Co's [[East Greenwich Gas Works]] on the [[Greenwich Peninsula]].
[[File:Beckton Gas Works - geograph.org.uk - 1569585.jpg|thumb|[[Gasholder]] at Beckton Gas Works, in 2007]] [[Coal gas|Town gas]] was produced using [[Destructive distillation|coal carbonisation]] and was conveyed to central London through a 48-inch (1.22 m) diameter gas main to the City of London with an extension to Westminster. The 48-inch main was subsequently duplicated.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A History of the British Gas Industry|last=Williams|first=Trevor I|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1981|isbn=0-19-858157-2|location=Oxford|pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofbritish0000will/page/70 70]|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofbritish0000will/page/70}}</ref> To augment gas supplies the GLCC built a [[Water gas|carburetted water gas]] (CWG) plant at Beckton in 1890 capable of producing 10 million cubic feet per day (283,166 m<sup>3</sup>/d). The capacity of the CWG plant had risen to 40 million cubic feet per day (1.133 million m<sup>3</sup>/d) by 1934. However, the majority of the gas was still produced by coal carbonisation.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A History of the British Gas Industry|last=Williams|first=Trevor I|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1981|isbn=0-19-858157-2|location=Oxford|pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofbritish0000will/page/61 61]|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofbritish0000will/page/61}}</ref>
After the Second World War a major reconstruction project was undertaken by the civil engineer [[Terence Patrick O'Sullivan|T. P. O'Sullivan]] of Brian Colquhoun and Partners. Following nationalisation in 1949 the plant was owned by the [[North Thames Gas Board]].
[[File:Beckton Gas works from Gallions Reach DLR station, 1994.jpg|thumb|Ruins of the Beckton Gas Works from the [[Gallions Reach DLR station]], 1994]]
In 1949 Beckton was the largest gas works in the world, capable of producing a total of 119.12 million cubic feet of gas per day (3.37 million m<sup>3</sup>/day).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Always under Pressure|last=Falkus|first=Malcolm|publisher=MacMillan|year=1988|isbn=0-333-46819-8|location=Basingstoke|pages=8}}</ref> Over the next 20 years a series of upgrades to the works were undertaken:
* In 1952 a modern carburetted [[water gas]] plant was built with a capacity of 20 million cubic feet per day (566,332 m<sup>3</sup>/day).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Always under Pressure|last=Falkus|first=Malcolm|publisher=MacMillan|year=1988|isbn=0-333-46819-8|location=Basingstoke|pages=33, 37}}</ref> * During 1957 a [[butane]]/air plant was built at Beckton to augment peak-load gas supplies.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Always under pressure|last=Falkus|first=Malcolm|publisher=MacMillan|year=1988|isbn=0-333-46819-8|location=Basingstoke|pages=62–66}}</ref> * In 1959 a [[catalytic reforming]] plant was commissioned. This used tail gases from the refineries at [[Coryton Refinery|Coryton]] and [[Shell Haven]], delivered by pipeline, as a feedstock to manufacture town gas.<ref name=":0" /> * In 1968 another large gas reforming plant was built at Beckton producing 100 million cubic feet of gas per day (2.8 million m<sup>3</sup>/day). The plant initially operated with [[Liquefied petroleum gas|liquefied petroleum gases]] as a feedstock until [[North Sea oil|North Sea gas]] became available in 1969.<ref name=":0" />
[[File:Beckton Gas Works- remains of retort-houses, 1996 (geograph 4675247).jpg|thumb|Remains of Beckton Gas Works retort-houses, in 1996]] The coal carbonisation plant at Beckton became uncompetitive with [[North Sea oil|North Sea gas]] and was closed in 1969, which was also when the last trainload left the associated chemical works. Beckton still produced town gas using its reforming plants – with a total gas reforming capacity of 143 million cubic feet gas per day (4.05 million m<sup>3</sup>/day). The reforming plants operated until 1976; Beckton was the location of the last town gas to natural gas domestic conversions in the [[North Thames Gas Board]] supply area on 29 August 1976.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A History of the British Gas Industry|last=Williams|first=Trevor I|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1981|isbn=0-19-858157-2|location=Oxford|pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyofbritish0000will/page/191 191]|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofbritish0000will/page/191}}</ref>
At its peak Beckton had employed 4,500 people, but by the late 1970s only 100 employees remained.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Always under Pressure|last=Falkus|first=Malcolm|publisher=MacMillan|year=1988|isbn=0-333-46819-8|location=Basingstoke|pages=158–61}}</ref>
After closure the residual site passed to [[British Gas plc|British Gas]] and [[National Grid plc|Transco]].
The works lay within former Essex docks with parts being redeveloped by the [[London Docklands Development Corporation]].
==Location== [[File:Beckton Gas Works Map 1890s.png|thumb|Beckton Gas and Product Works and surrounding area in the 1890s]] The works covered a {{convert|550|acre|ha|abbr=off|adj=on}} site to the south of the [[Northern Outfall Sewer]], between Woolwich Manor Way and the Thames. The company had considered several sites for the works. The site to the west of [[Barking Creek]] was selected as it was possible to build deep water piers in the Thames, enabling direct unloading from steam colliers bringing coal from mines in the North-East of England.<ref name=clifford>Clifford, T., notes to ''Old Ordnance Survey Maps: Beckton 1914'', The Godfrey Edition, Alan Godfrey Maps, 2000, Gateshead, {{ISBN|1-84151-216-8}}</ref> There were two piers, for importing coal and exporting by-products. In the 1930s an annual average of a million tons of coal mainly from [[Durham, England|Durham]] was unloaded at the main pier, with a further 750,000 tons transhipped to barges for other works. The GLCC had a fleet of seventeen [[Coastal trading vessel|coastal]] [[Collier (ship type)|colliers]] ranging from 1,200 to 2,841 [[Gross register tonnage|gross register tons]], and also chartered larger ships as needed. At this time the plant had a coal storage capacity of 250,000 tons.<ref name=winchester/>
The plant had an extensive internal railway system of between {{convert|42|and|70|mi|km|abbr=off}}<ref name=clifford /><ref name=winchester /> and featured some unusual elevated sidings that also ran out on a number of piers into the Thames. The '''Beckton Railway''' provided a link to the national network at [[Custom House, Newham|Custom House]], used for passenger traffic to the works and for transport of by-products such as coal tar. This was leased and operated by the [[Great Eastern Railway]] from 1874. There were no intermediate stations between [[Custom House station]] and [[Beckton railway station]], which was at the entrance to the works. The line closed to passengers following bomb damage in 1940, the freight line finally closing in February 1971.<ref>Jackson A.A, ''London's Local Railways'', David & Charles, 1978, {{ISBN|0-7153-7479-6}}</ref>
==Beckton Products Works== Following the invention of coal gas early in the 19th century, it was discovered that numerous [[Organic compound|organic]] and [[Inorganic compound|inorganic]] chemicals could be obtained when purifying the gas. Processes began to be developed to recover these, and a major branch of the British chemical industry – the [[coal tar]] and [[ammonia]] by-products industry – came into existence.<ref name=Townsend>{{cite web|url=http://www.glias.org.uk/Chemicals_from_Coal/INDEX.HTM |author=Townsend C.A. |title='Chemicals from Coal: A history of Beckton Products Works' |publisher=Greater London Industrial Archaeological Society |year=2003 |accessdate=2007-12-30 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20040902193342/http://www.glias.org.uk/Chemicals_from_Coal/index.htm |archivedate=2004-09-02 }}</ref> By 1876 a nearby company, Burt, Boulton and Haywood of [[Silvertown]], was distilling each year {{convert|12|e6impgal|m3|abbr=off}} of coal tar to manufacture ingredients for disinfectants, insecticides and dyes. [[Sulphur]] from the gas works was the raw material for local manufacturers of [[sulphuric acid]] needed by other nearby companies producing products such as fertilizers.<ref>[http://www.citiesofscience.co.uk/go/London/ContentPlace_1960.html Hunt A, Cities of Science] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071105044913/http://www.citiesofscience.co.uk/go/London/ContentPlace_1960.html |date=5 November 2007 }}</ref> Subsequently, the GLCC decided that it would carry out the processing of by-products itself, rather than sell them to independent chemical companies. A purpose-built chemical works, Beckton Products Works, was constructed in 1879. It was the largest tar and ammonia by-products works in the UK, possibly in the world. Besides millions of gallons of road tar, products included [[phenol]], the [[cresol]]s and [[xylenol]]s, [[naphthalene]], [[pyridine]] bases, [[creosote]], [[benzene]], [[toluene]], [[xylene]], solvent [[naphtha]], [[ammonium sulphate]] and [[ammonia]] solution, [[sulphuric acid]], [[picoline]]s, [[quinoline]], [[quinaldine]], [[acenaphthene]], [[anthracene]] and [[dicyclopentadiene]]. Since the Products works was dependent on by-products of gas manufacture it could not long survive the introduction of natural gas. The last train carrying chemical products, a load of [[Pitch (resin)|pitch]], left the works on 1 June 1970.<ref name=Townsend />
==Beckton Alps== [[File:Beckton Alps.jpg|thumb|Beckton Alps and Gas Works 1973, from the A13]] The toxic spoil heaps from the works are known ironically as Beckton Alps. Originally covering an extensive area to the west of the works, they have been landscaped and much reduced in size. In 1988 an Armada beacon was placed at its summit, one of a national network of beacons commemorating the 400th anniversary of the Spanish Armada. The beacon, a large metal structure, was subsequently stolen. From 1989 to 2001 a dry ski slope, opened by [[Diana, Princess of Wales]], was operated on the small remaining section ({{Gbmapping|TQ431820}}), though the nickname pre-dates this. The site is the highest point in Newham, and a [[Site of Nature Conservation Interest|Site of Borough Importance for Nature Conservation]], Grade II.<ref name=GIGL>{{cite web |url=http://www.gigl.org.uk/igigl/siteDetails.aspx?sID=NeBII08&sType=sinc |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121223235155/http://www.gigl.org.uk/igigl/siteDetails.aspx?sID=NeBII08&sType=sinc |url-status=dead |archive-date=23 December 2012 |title=Beckton Alps |publisher=Greenspace Information for Greater London |year=2006 |accessdate=10 September 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> It is said to be the highest artificial hill in London.<ref>[http://www.citiesofscience.co.uk/go/London/ContentPlace_1960.html ''The highest artificial hill in London''](Cities of Science) accessed 3 March 2008 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071105044913/http://www.citiesofscience.co.uk/go/London/ContentPlace_1960.html |date=5 November 2007 }}</ref>
In 2003, a proposed £35m replacement for the site - the ''SnowWorld'' indoor centre - ran into financial problems.<ref>[http://www.snowboardclub.co.uk/news-beckton.html ''Cresney's plans for Beckton''](London SnowWorld News) accessed 3 March 2008 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720030344/http://www.snowboardclub.co.uk/news-beckton.html |date=20 July 2011 }}</ref> The site was acquired for development as a hotel in 2013.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bdonline.co.uk/hotel-planned-for-beckton-alp/3114805.article|title=Hotel planned for Beckton Alp |publisher=bdonline.co.uk |date=2013-11-13 |accessdate=2008-05-30}}</ref>
The [[A13 road (England)|A13]]/A117 road junction is also named Beckton Alps.{{cn|date=May 2026}}
During 2013 the sheets of corrugated iron situated on top of the former dry sky slope were painted in the colour of the Lithuanian national flag (the site is adjacent to London's largest Lithuanian supermarket) but later covered up with the St George Cross in retaliation.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.standpointmag.co.uk/dispatches-november-13-from-eastern-europe-to-the-east-end-ben-judah-beckton-london |title=From Eastern Europe to the East End |publisher=Standpoint |date=2013-11-13 |accessdate=2017-01-28 |archive-date=2 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202061717/http://www.standpointmag.co.uk/dispatches-november-13-from-eastern-europe-to-the-east-end-ben-judah-beckton-london |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==Beckton Gas Works as a film location== <!-- chronological --> The Gasworks, Products Works and Alps were used as a location for TV and cinema filming on a number of occasions.
In the 1960s comedy films and TV programmes, such as [[Michael Bentine]]’s ''[[It's a Square World]]'', were shot here. The mounds of chemical waste were used to portray mountaineering scenes.<ref name=Townsend />
In 1975 the film ''[[Brannigan (film)|Brannigan]]'' starring [[John Wayne]] used the location.
The opening sequence of the 1981 [[James Bond]] movie ''[[For Your Eyes Only (film)|For Your Eyes Only]]'' was filmed here. The scenes involved [[Roger Moore]] as James Bond attempting to regain control of a helicopter operated by remote control by his nemesis [[Ernst Stavro Blofeld]].
The gasworks buildings were also used in a number of scenes representing a dystopian 1984 London in the 1984 film version of the George Orwell's ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]''.
The video for the 1984 [[Culture Club]] single '[[The War Song]]' was mainly filmed at the former gasworks buildings.
Part of the 1985 ''Max Headroom'' TV Movie ''[[Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future|20 Minutes into the Future]]'' was shot at Beckton Gas Works.
[[Derek Jarman]]'s 1986 promotional video for The Smiths 'The Queen is Dead' single was partly shot at Beckton Gas Works.
In 1986, the film ''[[Biggles: Adventures in Time]]'' used the gasworks as a location for a weapon testing ground. Neil Dickson, who played Biggles in Biggles: Adventures in Time, played a similar character in the 1987 film ''[[It Couldn't Happen Here]]'', a surreal, musical journey through the songs of the pop duo [[Pet Shop Boys]]. In the film, Dickson drives [[Neil Tennant]] and [[Chris Lowe]] to an apocalyptic wasteland, the scenes of which were filmed at Beckton, very close to the same area used in [[Stanley Kubrick]]'s 1987 film ''[[Full Metal Jacket]]''.
In the final hour or so of ''Full Metal Jacket'', Stanley Kubrick's 1987 movie portraying the [[Vietnam War]], [[Matthew Modine]] (Private Joker), [[Adam Baldwin]] (Animal Mother) and their platoon go into [[Huế]], a Vietnamese city, to clear it of [[Viet Cong]] and snipers. Kubrick had the whole gasworks selectively demolished and the art department then dressed the 'set' with latticework and appropriate advertising hoardings to make it believable. At one point the soldiers enter a building to flush out a sniper. This building was one of several located between the central buildings of the old gasworks and about 200 yards from the river Thames. The final scene sees the soldiers marching off into the (London) sunset against the silhouettes of the burning gasworks' chimneys and buildings, singing the [[Mickey Mouse March]] from the US children's TV show. In the film a period of several days takes place in the protagonists' lives as they travel through Huế city; in reality the action took place within just {{convert|1|sqmi|km2|abbr=off|round=0.5}}. According to Kubrick collaborator [[Leon Vitali]], who worked on ''Full Metal Jacket'', the gasworks were built by an architectural firm that also constructed much of Huế.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/aug/01/how-we-made-full-metal-jacket-stanley-kubrick-matthew-modine |title=How we made Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket |last=Wise |first=Damon |date=1 August 2017 |website=[[theguardian.com]] |access-date=7 August 2017}}</ref>
Within weeks, British pop/rock trio [[The Outfield]] filmed multiple sequences for the video to the band's 1987 hit "Since You've Been Gone", from their album ''[[Bangin']]'', at Beckton Gas Works.
The video for [[Loop (band)|Loop]]'s 1990 single 'Arc-lite' was filmed on the set of ''Full Metal Jacket''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.heavensend.org/press/nme-27jan90.html |title=Loop - + Heaven's End |publisher=Heavensend.org |date=1990-01-27 |accessdate=2010-06-22}}</ref> The gasworks was used as the main background scene for the video to the 1997 [[Oasis (band)|Oasis]] single '[[D'You Know What I Mean?]]', as it shows the band members playing on a concrete slab within the gasworks.
Several exterior scenes of the 1993 film ''[[The Cement Garden]]'' starring [[Charlotte Gainsbourg]] were filmed here.
The videoclip for [[Marcella Detroit]]'s 1994 single '[[I Believe (Marcella Detroit song)|I Believe]]' was shot in this location, as was a video for [[The Auteurs]] single 'Chinese Bakery' that year.
Also, the 1995 TV series ''[[Bugs (TV series)|Bugs]]'' episode 'Out Of The Hive' shows the entire works in a scene where a car drives off an unfinished bridge in flames.
[[Patrick Keiller]]'s 1997 film ''Robinson in Space'' visits Beckton, including 'East Ham Churchyard' ("the largest in England" noted the narrator [[Paul Scofield]]) opposite Beckton Alps.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.reaktionbooks.co.uk/display.asp?K=9781861890283 |title=Robinson in Space |publisher=Reaktion Books |date=1999-01-01 |accessdate=2017-01-28 |archive-date=2 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202042805/http://www.reaktionbooks.co.uk/display.asp?K=9781861890283 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
''Asylum'', a 2000 film of [[Iain Sinclair]] and [[Chris Petit]] for [[Channel 4]], was partially shot at Beckton Alps while it was still a dry-ski slope.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/restless-hauntings-richard-marshall-interviews-marina-warner/ |title=Restless Hauntings |publisher=3ammagazine.com |date=2009-04-06 |accessdate=2017-01-28}}</ref>
==Present== Virtually no trace of the old gasworks now exists. Bisected by many roads, including the [[A1020 road|A1020]] Royal Docks Road, a small area of the waste tip and some gas holders remain, separated by {{convert|1|mi|km|0|abbr=off}} or so of redevelopment. Parts of the site are occupied by an [[industrial estate]], the [[Beckton Retail Park]] and [[Gallions Reach Shopping Park]].
Part of the extensive [[industrial railway]] route has since been used for the [[Docklands Light Railway]] between [[Beckton DLR station]] and the Royal Docks Road. The site also houses the [[Beckton DLR depot]].
==See also== * [[East Greenwich Gas Works]] * [[Southall Gas Works]] * [[Gas Light and Coke Company#Fulham|Imperial Gas Works, Fulham]] * [[Gas Light and Coke Company#Nine Elms|Nine Elms Gas Works]]
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
==Further reading== * [https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/images/5/5a/Er18700204.pdf The Beckton Works of the Chartered Gas Company] The Engineer, 4 February 1870
==External links== {{Commons category|Beckton Gas Works}} *{{cite web|url=http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server.php?show=ConNarrative.65&chapterId=1553 |title=Powering the City |publisher=Port Cities|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110609183253/http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server.php?show=ConNarrative.65&chapterId=1553 |archive-date=9 June 2011 |url-status=dead}} *{{cite web|url=http://www.newhamstory.com/node/1431 |title=1902 photo of locomotive and carriages|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307075633/http://www.newhamstory.com/node/1431 |archive-date=7 March 2016 }} *{{Cite web |title=BBC - WW2 People's War - Bills story |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/99/a7273299.shtml |access-date=2023-05-02 |website=www.bbc.co.uk}} {{Coord|51.515876|0.071965 |display=title| type:landmark}}
[[Category:Former buildings and structures in the London Borough of Newham]] [[Category:Chemical industry in London]] [[Category:Port of London]] [[Category:Manufacturing on the River Thames]] [[Category:History of the River Thames]] [[Category:Beckton|Beckton Gas Works]]