Article by Rory Connolly

Do you know what helped pay for the building of Belfast City Hall, The Albert Clock and simultaneously lit the streets of Belfast? Sam Gault invited us to Carrickfergus to visit Flame, the Gasworks museum.

Belfast City Hall under construction in 1901

In 1855 Carrickfergus Gasworks opened up its first set of coal burning furnaces to help power the street lamps of the town and its surroundings. Sam, a former manager of the Gasworks and now proud tour guide of Ireland’s only gas museum, described how the process worked.

The mini furnaces known as retorts were used to process coal into gas. These retorts baked coal instead of burning it to produce gas, which, after being purified was piped around the region.

Each retort had two stokers, who worked eight or nine hour shifts, one packing the coal into the furnace and another removing the coke. Sam remarked that when the stoker opened the door to remove the coke he had to burn off the first bit of gas that escaped to prevent the retort exploding.

a room filled floor to ceiling with coal burning 'retorts' which produced gas, originally, for street lighting

Tough as it seems this stoker got a meagre twenty-five pence a week, while his partner, who loaded the retort, was slightly better off with forty-five. By 1947 Carrick’s Gasworks had expanded to three rooms of retorts with three teams of stokers and a total staff of seventeen.

In contrast, owners of Gasworks could become very wealthy; profits could be made not only from the gas produced but also through the sale of coke and tar left behind. Sam remarked, “The Belfast Gasworks paid for the building of City Hall, The Albert Clock and Queens Bridge”.

Even with gas’s dangerous reputation, the Carrickfergus Gasworks had only one fatality in it's working history, and that was strangely due to electrocution. Henry McAuley was the unfortunate worker, who ran over a bare wire with a heavy metal wheelbarrow used to haul away tar.

The Gasworks museum also hosts a ‘Hall of Flame’, a trip back in time through the history of gas appliances from the first cooking ring adapted from gas lighting to today’s modern fixtures. Included in this is an early model of a gas powered chip pan, a profitable sideline for many a housewife.

a range of gas cookers down the years, including the Cannon Fridge and Oven "combi" on the far left of this photograph

Audio Clip : Listen to Sam and Michael reveal the history of gas in Carrick

Sam claims that, “It’s a great delight to be able to bring people in here”. He’s determined to preserve the memories of the dedicated staff who worked the station. “I made a vow that the place wouldn’t end up on the scrapheap.” He once tried to move the museum to the Ulster Folk museum, but Flame now sits perfectly at home in Carrickfergus.

How does Sam find all his artefacts? - “I asked a few plumbers to look out for anything they thought was interesting.” He is still missing one vital treasure, “What I’d really like is a lamplighter’s pole.”

So, over to you, the YPAM audience, can you help complete Sam's collection by donating a lamplighter's pole ??

If you can help, please fill in the form below.

YOUR COMMENTS:

Andy - February '08
Hi! I'd like to know the year of manufacturer of the New World seventy five cooker? Thanks so much, regards Andy.

Bob Allen - Feb '08
Through genealogy research, I became aware that my great great grandfather was a manager in the Carrickfergus Gas Works during the 1870's. His name was Robert Green. Do you keep records of people who worked over the years?

Eleanor kelly - Apr '07
Can u tell me the name and location of grave yards in carrickfergus?

Nikki - Feb '07
Hi
I have a cannon 134F in my kitchen that i still use it was my grandmothers and i now live in her house, i am having a new kitchen soon and will be sorry to see it go.

Charmian Hughes - Jan '07
hello, can you tell me where I can get replacement control knobs for my 1958 new world rangette cooker ? thank you.

Chris Jones - July '06
I also have a new world seventy six, thinking of selling. would it be worth anything?

Ian Penfold - July '06
Please can you tell me where I may be able to obtain a replacement oven door knob assembly for a New World cooker labelled Seventy-Six as the plastic parts of mine, which is still in daily use, have broken? Thanking you in anticipation, Yours faithfully, Ian Penfold.

Maureen and Richard Virgoe - May '06
What a fantastic site.
Absolutely fascinating. I have in my possession - excellent condition and good working order still today a new world gas cooker labelled seventy-six and converted to natural gas on 28th September 1970. What can I do with it? Are you interested? Thank you in anticipation.

Samuel Gault - Mar 06
To find out more, feel free to contact the Gas Museum at www.flamegasworks.co.uk or for a guided tour phone to arrange either a tour for groups or families Phone 02893369575