High Speed Gas

Advert from 1900

Always trendsetters, Todmorden folk can claim they were enjoying the benefits of "High Speed Gas" while the rest of the country was still on candle power!

It was all thanks to the Fielden brothers who, in 1830, decided to light their Waterside works with gas. Never a family to keep a good thing to themselves, the gas mains were extended throughout Todmorden, then still a village: "The inhabitants had thus the advantage of this novel and convenient light before many of the large towns," reported the local press.

Todmorden Gas Company was formed in 1845 but the Fieldens continued to offer a rival supply until 1893 when domestic production at Waterside ceased.

The gasometers are now demolished but as late as the 1960s the town was still served by its own gasworks which supplemented the national grid.

Read the full story in Milltown Memories, issue 14. If this or other stories stirs a memory, we'd be happy to know - send us your memories and comments.