Site Record

On the 20th October 1952, an underlease of 29.7a of land at Wrexham Trading Estate acquired from Wales & Mon. Industrial Estates Ltd. In 1953 a gasworks was substantially complete by the summer. Initial capacity 4m/day. It included Intermittent Vertical Chamber Oven plant built by Messrs W. J. Jenkins and Co. of Retford Nottingham. The plant has 25 chambers, each with a capacity of 3.65 tons. The works also had A Carburetted Water Gas House, design to house to plans transferred from the Rivulet Road gasworks. It also had two steam driven Rootes type compressors and two steam driven Rootes type exhausters. There were two vertical water-cooled condensers, detarrer, static ammonia washer, naphthalene washer and five reinforced concrete ground level purifiers and a 500,000 cu.ft. spiral guided above ground gasholder. It was equipped with its own two 250-kilowatt alternator set to generate power from steam driven condensing engines. In 1957 a five-mile pipeline from Bersham Colliery was completed, the following year it was delivering 3m cf3/week of a methane/air mixture having a CV of 670 BthU/ cu.ft.. A 3m cu.ft. per day Carburetted Water Gas Plant was installed by Power Gas Corporation in 1961, this was a flexible plant which could make town gas from oil, light distillate fraction (a refinery by-product) or mines gas or without additional feedstock. On the 2nd February 1962, a 20a freehold acquired from Board of Trade "Railway sidings and marshalling yards of Wrexham Industrial Estate" including the Estates Management Corporation's leasehold interest. A water gas plant was converted to a cyclic catalytic light distillate reforming plant c1965. On the 28th March 1966 an agreement with British Railways Board for the construction and use of sidings, £10 per annum (for feedstock deliveries to reformer plant?). By 1965 the capacity of the Maelor works had risen from 2.25m cu.ft. per day to 9.25m cu.ft. per day. Maelor became the supply point for natural gas to feed into North Wales Gas Grid when it arrived in 1969. The gasworks were visible on the 1949 to 1992 OS maps.