| Description | The Bolton Gas Light and Coke Co was formed in 1818 by a group of cotton and engineering manufacturers and an AoP incorporated the company in 1819. The first manager and engineer was Ralph Spooner, formerly of the Preston Gas Light Co. There were early works at Bow St and elsewhere, but the small works built in Forge St which later became the Gas St site, were the main gas making works in Bolton. It was also known as Moor Lane. Several extensions and a major reconstruction in 1886 took place at the Gas St or Moor Lane works and in 1867 adjoining land at Spa Fields (to become Spa Road) was aquired, though this land was used for gas storage and office accommodation only. A second main gas works site at Lum St, (built c. 1850 ??) was also in operation when in 1872 Bolton Corporation purchased the undertaking and took over the two sites at Gas St (Moor Lane) and Lum St. The main offices of the works were built at Hotel St and these continued to be the headquarters offices after nationalisation. The Lum St works were reconstructed between 1911 and 1913 and the Gas Street works were reconstructed in 1925. At Spa Road in 1926 a large workshop, meter and appliance testing rooms and office building was erected. In 1949 the Bolton undertaking vested in the NWGB and became the headquarters of the Bolton-Radcliffe Group. The Lum St works were closed down soon after nationalisation and the Gas St site was once again rebuilt and modernised. This collection contains administrative, financial, estate, technical and legal records. There is a large series of mains books and several items relating to buildings and plant including a photograph of the Moor Lane works. |