The Bute Trustees developed the Cardiff Docks and created the Cardiff Railway Company, which operated the Docks. In 1871 a gasworks was established by the Cardiff Railway Company to light the Dock Estate and the premises of its tenants, plus street lighting. In 1898 the engineer and manager of the Bute Docks gasworks was A. J. Ward, and the annual gas production was 45m cu.ft. from 4500 tons of coal. In 1914 the annual gas production 80m cu.ft. from 8,000 tons of coal. 120 consumers, mostly industrial, and 560 public lamps. A. J. Ward, Manager. By 1945 the GWR was purchasing a bulk supply from the Cardiff Gas Light & Coke Co., with no gas being made on site. In 1949 the undertaking vested in the Wales Gas Board, but it is not known whether the Railway Executive (Western Region) also handed over the former gas works site. The gasworks were visible on the 1888 to 1922 OS maps.