Freshwater Gas Works
The Freshwater Gas Works was established in 1899 at Norton, on the western side of the Yar estuary, to supply gas to Freshwater and Totland.[1]
Coal would have been supplied by barge/ship to a quay adjacent to the works.
The Gas Works was expanded in the 1940’s with the addition of two further gas holders.
The British Gas Industry was nationalised in 1949 and the private company was wound up in 1950.
Production continued after the central Gas Works open at Kingston in 1957 as a new main had to be laid from Newport.
1960 - "Houses, &c. FOR SALE - Francis Pittis & Son - YARMOUTH - Old gasworks site and detached House, with 3 bed-rooms, 2 reception, bathroom, kitchen, &c., 13 acres, with river frontage and jetty."[2]
In 1961, a report records that Admiral Larken had 'recently purchased the disused Yarmouth (sic) Gasworks'[3] (a 1965 record records that a boat yard had been established on the site, so must be the site on the west of the estuary).[4]
Today (2019), the site is a boat yard at the end of Gas Works Lane, just off the western side of the Yar swing bridge.
