BRIGG MADE ITS OWN GAS TO SUPPLY THE TOWN'S PROPERTIES & STREETS LIGHTS

With gas supplies and utility prices being major national issues at present, here's a picture showing that Brigg once had its own gas works which met all local needs - domestic, commercial and even lighting the streets.
It was located close to the Old River Ancholme and for many decades received supplies of Yorkshire-mined coal brought in by barges via the River Humber, initially being unloaded by teams of workers using shovels and barrows.
A Brigg gas company was formed way back in 1827 - even before Queen Victoria's reign!
In 1886 while work was being carried out to install a gasometer, a well-preserved Bronze Age timber boat was unearthed by workmen.
This boat was said to be the largest survivor to be discovered anywhere in the UK.
Constructed around 800 BC, it went on local public display until the early 20th century, prior to being showcased at a museum in Hull.
Sadly, having survived all those centuries in Brigg, it was destroyed by German Luftwaffe bombs during a 'Blitz' raid on the north bank city in 1943.
Brigg Urban District Council took over gas supply provision from the local company in 1899 - only a few years after the local authority had been created. An Act of Parliament was required to 'empower' the UDC.
When the picture (above left) of the gas works was taken in the 1940s or perhaps early 1950s, it was still supplying what was known as coal or town gas to domestic and business premises in Brigg, and also for street lighting.
Gas from the Brigg plant was also piped to some villages nearby.
More than 1,000 local suppliers across the UK were eventually phased out in favour of a national 'grid' system.
When North Sea 'natural' gas began to be piped ashore in the late 1960s and early 1970s, appliances had to be converted or replaced as this supply differed from coal gas.
Other than our picture seen here, there is a reminder that Brigg once had a gas works adjacent to the B & M store's extensive car park.
Anglian Water's brick building - surrounded by a security fence - carries a small sign/notice with the wording 'Brigg Gas House' and gives a phone number people can call "in case of emergency."
Long after Brigg's works were removed, utilising gas to generate power was established on part of the former Brigg Sugar Factory site in Scawby Brook.
Having recently received notice of intended changes, North Lincolnshire Council (our local planning authority) has now decided that its approval will be required to demolish and remove some redundant buildings at the Centrica Brigg Power Station, Scawby Brook.
The work indicated includes gas turbine filter houses and cooling towers.
The council has told the company it will require information about the Demolition Traffic Management Plan and also confirmation of working hours for demolition and site clearance operations.

Ken Harrison has been in touch today to say the original gasworks were near the railway station. Works were established near the riverside circa 1850.

PICTURED: Part of the old gas works in Brigg while still operational, Anglian Water's Brigg Gas House building photographed recently, and unearthing the prehistoric boat in the 1880s.