The Gasworks.

~ The Gasworks ~ The first step in the establishment of a gasworks¹ in the town took place on 16 April 1852, when at a meeting of property owners from the Division of Dalton Proper which was held in the vestry of the parish church³, an executive committee consisting of seven gentlemen was appointed to supervise the building and management of the proposed gasworks. It was also resolved that the gas should be used for lighting the town, and that the gasworks should belong completely to the Division of Dalton Proper. The capital outlay for this project was realised through the sale to the Furness Railway⁷ Company, of certain common and waste lands in the Division of Dalton Proper, and a sum of approximately £700 was set aside for this purpose.
Under the direction of the committee, the gasworks² was ultimately built on a piece of land formerly known as Mary Bank¹ (near Goose Green² and now the site of a car saleroom), which had been presented to the township of Dalton by the Furness Railway⁸ Company, and by a deed dated 10 October 1853 was conveyed to the executive committee, to be held by them 'their heirs and assigns for ever, to be appropriated and used as and for a site of Gas Works for the town and neighbourhood of Dalton-in-Furness aforesaid'.

Goose Green and the Pinfold

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Goose Green³ and the pinfold, seen from the cemetery.
Gas mains were laid and street lamps provided by the committee, and a considerable portion of the town was lighted free of further cost to the ratepayers until October 1871, when the Lighting and Watching Act was adopted and Lighting Inspectors appointed, by whom further lamps were erected, and who continued the supervision of the lighting of the town until 1873, when the Local Board² assumed this responsibility.

From this time onwards, there were a number of serious attempts by the Local board³ to purchase the gasworks³; the first one was under the authority of the Dalton-in-Furness District Local Board Act, 1878, which empowered the Board to purchase and subsequently dispose of the gasworks and site, but not to use or manufacture gas at the existing works. For this purpose, two new gasworks were planned; one of which was to be situated at Crooklands² and the other at Askam². This, and other subsequent attempts to transfer the ownership of the works to the Local Board, was not successful, and the authority conferred upon the Local Board by this particular Act was allowed to lapse.

It is interesting in today's climate of constantly rising prices, to observe that, in the first fifteen years, the price of gas manufactured at the Dalton works fell almost steadily. The following table tells its own story:
Year Price per 1,000 cubic feet Year Price per 1,000 cubic feet

1873-7 7s. 6d. 1880-1 4s. 2d.

1877-8 6s. 8d. 1881-3 5s. 0d.

1878-9 5s. 0d. 1883-5 4s. 7d.

1879-80 4s. 2d. 1886-7 3s. 9d.

Eventually however, the transfer of ownership was completed; yet, surprisingly this did not take place until well into the twentieth century. On 18 December 1935, a public meeting was held for the ratepayers of the town to approve or reject the latest terms for the Council to purchase the works. The result was that the terms and conditions were approved, and an Act of Parliament was invoked in 1936, conferring upon the Dalton Urban District Council the necessary powers to effect the purchase of the site, and to continue the manufacture of gas. The change of ownership took place on 1 October 1936, and lasted until 1948, when the old gasworks⁴ finally closed down.
Next Part: (The Emergence of the Modern Town):- 'The Cemetary'

Year	Price per 1,000 cubic feet	Year	Price per 1,000 cubic feet
1873-7	7s. 6d.	1880-1	4s. 2d.
1877-8	6s. 8d.	1881-3	5s. 0d.
1878-9	5s. 0d.	1883-5	4s. 7d.
1879-80	4s. 2d.	1886-7	3s. 9d.