Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

During an archaeological watching brief undertaken by Canterbury Archaeological Trust on various works associated with the redevelopment of the St. James area of Dover, the top of a 19th century gasometer pit was uncovered. (location accurate to the nearest 1m based on available information)

Monument Types

• GAS HOLDER (Post Medieval - 1855 AD to 1900 AD?)

Full description

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Summarised from report:

During an archaeological watching brief undertaken by Canterbury Archaeological Trust on various works associated with the redevelopment of the St. James area of Dover, the top of a 19th century gasometer pit was uncovered, adjacent to old Dolphin Lane. Its outer brick retaining wall was revealed just below ground level, allowing the precise position of this large industrial monument to be mapped. The internal diameter of the brick lining was established as being 24.75m, with contemporary externally projecting brick piers set at intervals of about 6 metres. The retaining wall itself was of substantial construction, well-built from yellow stock bricks set in a hard grey-brown mortar. The wall was about 0.50m thick at the top but external offsets increased this at the lower levels. It was seen to extend to a maximum depth of 4 metres on the north-eastern side but accounts of the original construction indicate that it probably continued down for another 2 metres or so. A layer of carefully laid grey puddled clay enclosed the brickwork. Deep excavation confirmed that the outer wall of the gasometer had been set within a larger construction pit some 30 metres across. Around the inner edge of the brick lining, sections of vertical sheet steel and a number of thin steel bars with a T-shaped cross-section were noted, indicating that the central gas-holder tank itself was still in place, resting on the bottom of the pit. Once disused, the top of this tank must have been deliberately cut away to allow infilling of the main body of the pit with soil and rubble. Further archaeological interest attached to this Victorian structure because the remains of a Roman harbour wall (TR 34 SW 19) and a complex sequence of ancient harbour sediments had been revealed at depth during its original construction. (1)

This Gasometer is visible on numerous historic OS maps dating to the end of the 19th and early 20th century. (2-5)

<1> Keith Parfitt, 2018, Dover St James redevelopment. Interim report on archaeological excavation 2018 (Unpublished document). SKE51627.

<2> Landmark, Ordnance Survey 1:2,500 map (OS 1st edition 1862-1875): Landmark Epoch 1 (Map). SKE30964.

<3> Landmark, Ordnance Survey 1:2,500 map (OS 2nd Edition, 1897-1900): Landmark Epoch 2 (Map). SKE30965.

<4> Landmark, 1907-1923, Ordnance Survey 1:2,500 map (OS 3rd Edition, 1907-1923): Landmark Epoch 3 (Map). SKE30966.

<5> Landmark, Ordnance Survey 1:2,500 map (OS 4th Edition, 1929-1952): Landmark Epoch 4 (Map). SKE30967.

Sources and further reading