Former Gasworks, White Lund Industrial Estate, Morecambe, Lancashire

This report has been produced in accordance with the brief produced by Montagu Evans LLP on behalf of National Grid and is based upon on-site investigation and documentary research. As specified in the brief, a 'Basic Level 2 survey' was undertaken which was largely photographic and descriptive in nature. Wetgate Oxford Archaeology was commissioned by Montagu Evans LLP on behalf of National Grid to create an historic building record of a redundant gasholder at the former gasholder station at Westgate to the south-east of Morecambe in Lancashire. 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 structures and it will allow comparison with other sites. Gasholder 1 was constructed in 1936 to provide additional gas storage for the Moss Lane gasworks in Morecambe. The White Lund gasworks opened to the south-east of Morecambe in 1958, replacing seven smaller gasworks including Moss Lane, and the connection to the Westgate gasholder was transferred to the new works. Gasholder 1 was an above-ground spiral-guided gasholder with four lifts and a capacity of 1.5 million cubic feet. The switch to natural gas led to the closure of the White Lund gasworks in January 1970, and the works were also reduced to a gasholder station for gas storage. Both gasholder stations were in use until changes in gas storage and distribution in recent decades rendered gasholders redundant. The gasholder was isolated from the mains and decommissioned some time prior to this survey. The historic building recording focussed upon researching the history of the site and photographing the gasholder and its context before and during its dismantling. The wider programme of recording work of the remaining gasholders across the country will allow a comparison of the structures between sites. White Lund Oxford Archaeology was commissioned by Montagu Evans LLP on behalf of National Grid to create an historic building record of a redundant gasholder at the former gasworks at White Lund Industrial Estate to the south-east of Morecambe in Lancashire. 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 structures and it will allow comparison with other sites. The White Lund Gasworks, the last traditional coal gasworks to be built in England, opened in 1958, replacing seven smaller gasworks. Gasholder 2 is an above-ground spiral-guided gasholder with three lifts and a capacity of 750,000 cubic feet. The switch to natural gas led to the closure of the gasworks in January 1970, although the site was retained as a gasholder station for gas storage. Changes in gas distribution in recent decades have rendered gasholders redundant and the gasholder was isolated from the mains and decommissioned some time prior to this survey. The historic building recording focussed upon researching the history of the site and photographing the gasholder and its context before and during its dismantling. The wider programme of recording work of the remaining gasholders across the country will allow a comparison of the structures between sites.