Kirkwall Gasworks

The former municipal gas works in Kirkwall, was built in 1838 by a private company. Bearing in mind the first one in the UK was in London in 1813 Orkney was seen as an early adopter of this new fuel.

The gas was used to replace candles and whale oil lamps in houses. Over time gas was also used for heating and cooking. Over the years the demand for gas increased and the works were extended and improved, having been bought by Kirkwall City Council in 1923 for £5,500.

Town gas was a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen and was produced by heating coal and capturing the gasses it gave off. The solid residue of the coal was called coke and this was also then used as a comparatively smoke free heating fuel. A tar was also produced from the liquid residues which was widely used.

At the time, the Peedie Sea came up to the present line of Junction Road and coal was able to be landed directly at the gas works.

When North Sea gas was found the UK, gas networks changed over to this new gas which was principally methane. Plans were drawn up to convert the Kirkwall network to ‘natural gas’ which would have involved the construction of a specialist plant to receive the gas from the mainland. It was deemed too expensive for the small number of consumers and despite a campaign to increase consumption it was decided to be uneconomic and the system was shut down on the 30th of November 1973.