Ascending once more to Bagley’s Walk, we walk along the canal, passing Somers Town Bridge, a pedestrian footbridge completed in summer 2017 that crosses the canal and drops down into Camley Street providing access to Camley Street Natural Park.
We are now approaching the four surviving gasholders. The gasholders were originally part of the St Pancras works of the Imperial Gas Light and Coke Company, which manufactured town gas from coal. Both demand for and production of gas varied through the day, requiring storage on site to absorb these fluctuations. This took the form of substantial telescopic gasholders. Early versions were replaced in the 1860s, and reconstructed and enlarged in the 1880s. The most decorative were Gasholder 8 and Gasholders 10, 11 and 12, three gasholders with linked frames that were known as the ‘Siamese Triplet’, a design unique in Great Britain and with deeper gasholders than any previously constructed.
Before the redevelopment of the railway lands there had been nine gasholders, and their presence, with their fretted frameworks, was central to the industrial feel of the landscape. Their loss was deeply felt by many. Most were dismantled in 2001 to make way for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, now HS1. The Siamese Triplet and Gasholder 8 were grade II listed and their guide frames and lattice girders were stored for reuse. Both can now be seen facing St Pancras Yacht Basin, with St Pancras Locks, Camley Street Natural Park and the St Pancras Water Point beyond (Argent).
We first pass the Siamese Triplet gasholders. They have been filled with prime residential property, a fate that has befallen gasholders elsewhere in Europe. This commercial rationale for preservation is at the expense of their dignity and the power of their silhouettes.
We can observe this by moving on but a few more yards to Gasholder 8, its guide frames, guide wheels and lattice girders restored and allowed to stand in the open space of Gasholder Park. Visitors are protected from the elements by a striking modern shelter that encircles the central space.
From Gasholder Park we take a dogleg around the back of the Siamese Triplet and through the new buildings on Wollstonecraft Street and Handyside Street, to reach Lewis Cubitt Park. We circumnavigate three sides of this green space, returning via Tapper Walk to cross Handyside Street into Stable Street.