As specified in the brief, a 'Basic Level 2 survey' was undertaken which was largely photographic and descriptive in nature. The level of recording undertaken in the wider project to record gasworks have previously been agreed with Historic England on a portfolio basis. Oxford Archaeology was commissioned by Montagu Evans LLP on behalf of National Grid to create an historic building record of the surviving structures at the former gasholder station at Albert Street, Hollinwood in Oldham, Greater Manchester during the dismantling of the one gasholder at the site. This forms part of a national programme of recording these distinctive structures which have formed familiar landmarks in towns and cities throughout much of the 19th and 20th centuries. The work has provided for posterity an archive record of these distinctive structures and it will allow comparison with other sites. Recording was undertaken during the demolition of the holder so that the internal structure was visible as well as the external form but health and safety concerns restricted the possible access. It is a below-ground, spiral-guided gasholder which was constructed in c.1913 and it is remarkably large (c.63 m diameter). Indeed it has been reported that when it was first constructed it was the largest gasholder in the country (Oldham Evening Chronicle). It is located within its own walled compound which was nearby, but detached from, a full gasworks and the setting of the gasholder was much altered in the later 20th century by the construction of the Manchester orbital ring road (M60) immediately to the east. Part of the gasholder's compound was truncated to allow the construction of the new road. The examination of the interior showed that the gasholder has a large dumpling and a fixed 'rest frame' set on it. The rest frame is constructed from concentric rings of iron stanchions and it would have remained fixed while the main holder filled with gas and the telescopic cylindrical lifts rose. The domed crown would then have been supported by the pressure of the gas.
Jon Gill (Tue,) studied this question.