Old Gasworks

[dozy]

Why are the Council allowing houses to be built on the Old Gaswork Site in Thurso's Meadow Lane .When other Council have been forced to spend thousands of pounds to buy back and demolish homes or to do groundworks to help fix the problems left by the Gaswork waste .

[Gleber2]

There have always been houses in Mansons Lane and as far as I can remember the actual gas works is where the Coop store and carpark is now. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but iw would appear to me that no houses are being built on the actual site of the gasworks.

[dozy]

The gasworks building(the old one not the newer one that was never used ) ran from were the road runs now to about half way across the car park .But the Gasworks site was much bigger and there was a Gasometer its the space used for cooling the drawdown that is around the old Dunnets compound and closer to the COOP side . The Drawdown is the Coke and ash left over from the process ,the red hot embers were taken outside in a big trolley an sprayed with water .The water was not ducted away but was left to soak away in the ground .You see most of the ground at the works was made of compacted ash it was only the bits used by horses and then trucks that were cobbled Yes cobbled .I know the Doontoon quite well and i wouldn't build a house there . I think when the site was first cleared it was said that the Council would never allow houses the be built on or near that site .I think that the CO-OP was poured as a big concrete slab and thats the way they got it through planning . How things change and rules are set aside . Got any info ????

[Gleber2]

My parents lived in Manson's Lane as did my uncle but your memory of the site seems much clearer than mine. My Great Granny lived in the Gasworks cottages until 1949. I have never really thought about the pollution but God I remember the smell of the hot steam.

[theone]

I think they should have extended the carpark to relieve the parking problems in the town.

[dozy]

Do you remember the front for the Gasworks ,the big main gates with the offices over the top of it and the weight bridge and the shop -showroom for gas ranges and fires . The Toon Council used to get their Tar from there and they used the old slag for sound deafing between the floors in the houses they built in the 40's -50's .The houses built in Grove Lane ,Robertdick,Glede and Hungry Hill (thats Springpark for non-locals) all got the slag .Hows that for recycling .The new houses have no air flow like the old ones or drafts as they are better known ,no open fires to help with air circulation .Any bad air just sits under the houses and slowly builds up . I hope that they test the ground and make things safe ???????