Monument record MDR5842 - Gas Works (site of), Rutland Street, Ilkeston

SK 467 425 Rutland Street, Gas Works. An ornate three-storey brick building, with much decorative brickwork, survives. It is believed to be the retort house of c. 1909-1910. (1) Ilkeston's gas works, built to create gas from local coal, were moved to this site in c. 1869, having initially been established near the junction of Bath Street and Rutland Street. The works have been demolished, with the exception of a single ornate brick building, probably a retort house of c. 1909/1910. (2) The 1st and 2 eds 25" OS maps show the works bounded to the east by a plot containing what is interpreted as a short row of terraced housing and to the north by a longer terrace of houses, Springfield Terrace. (3, 4) In the early 20th century the 3rd edition OS map shows that the gas works were connected to the railway by tracks running across Bellfield Street. Springfield Terrace had been demolished and the works appear to have expanded northwards across the site of the building. (5) The retort house was built in 1909 as part of the Ilkeston Corporation Gas Works. After the local manufacture of gas ceased in the 1950s the building was used by various light engineering concerns, including Leisure Sales, makers of fairground machines. A second retort house, built in 1937, was demolished in the late 1960s. (6) Archaeological trial trenching was carried out on the former gas works site at Ilkeston in November 2012. Three trenches were excavated in the southeastern corner of the site prior to the construction of a restaurant and associated car park. A large curving wall that formed the base of Number 2 gas holder was revealed in trench 1 in the west of the excavation area. A smaller circular brick walled structure reminiscent of a chimney or possibly a tar well was also recorded just to the south of this. The original smaller Number 2 Gas Holder is likely to have been lost during the constrcution of the later structure. Walls and floor surfaces of further associated structures were uncovered in trench 2 in the south. The structures fronting Rutland Street may have been domestic properties, possibly for gas workers; however, the presence of brick floors and possible brick pillars points to an industrial use. The foundations and sandstone sett surfaces of the historic Dry Gas Plant building and the Governor's House were revealed in trench 3, in the east of the excavated area. (7)