'Gasholders: A History in Pictures'. Edited by National Grid plc, Russell Thomas and Timur Tatlioglu
240pp, superbly illustrated. Liverpool University Press on behalf of Historic England, 2024. £40 [HB]. ISBN 9781835538494
This book contains a comprehensive visual survey of gasholders in this country. It includes not only popular British types which have guide frames but also German waterless holders (pp98-109) and even those containing gas at a relatively high pressure. This is a coffee-table book, a visual treat which is readily accessible for a wide readership. As it is largely pictorial and the text is relatively brief, readers who do not have English as a first language should have little difficulty.
It is also a celebration of the best in gasholder photography. Many of the best photographers were based here and a criticism is that as a result the book tends to be biased towards London. Birmingham does not appear to get its fair share although you will find Windsor Street gasworks (pp190-191) and Swan Village (pp105-7).
Gasholders were part of the world we inhabited and they were not just confined to industrial areas. A typical visual image of the roof tops of a small British market town might include the church tower or steeple, the Town Hall clock, perhaps the top of the brewery tower and very likely in the middle distance the decorative finials of a Victorian gasholder guide frame. Now something is missing.
This volume was produced to mark the end of low-pressure gas storage. It might be compared with the book Dockland (ISBN 0716816113) published in 1986 to mark the end of the up-river Port of London.
Gasholders, a History in Pictures is a massive book, 13 inches by 11 inches in size, weighing 13 lb 14 oz and the whole production is on a grand scale which justifies the high price. It is intended to write more on the subject of gasholders and comments on the remainder of this book will, it is hoped, appear in subsequent GLIAS Newsletters. This note comments on the book rather than being a book review. Bob Carr