Memorial Garden, Bromley-by-Bow Gasworks

Bromley-by-Bow Gas Works was built in 1870-73 by the Imperial Gas Light and Coke Company, established in 1821, on the site of a former explosives factory. It was laid out with two large retort houses, an exhauster house, a boiler house, workshop, tanks and purifiers, and a large dock for coal barges at the south. To the north was a group of nine gasholders built between 1871 and 1882. In 1878 the company was bought by the Gas Light and Coke Company, which owned the larger gasworks at Beckton, and, the oldest gas company in the world, had been the first company to build a public gasworks in Westminster in 1812. By 1882, the Gas Light and Coke Company was one of just four gas companies supplying the inner areas of London. In its heyday it occupied 65 hectares and produced 21 million cu. ft of gas daily. By 1924 the Gas Light and Coke Company became the largest supplier in the world as well as the original company from which British Gas descended. The industry was nationalised in 1949; the arrival of North Sea Gas led to the decline of Bromley Gas Works and gas production ceased in 1976; its seven surviving gasholders were then used for storage of North Sea Gas. The North Thames Region of British Gas had its services and supplies headquarters here as well as the London Gas Museum and Library.

The Memorial Garden was laid out to commemorate those who worked at the Bromley-by-Bow Gasworks who had died in the two world wars and was a place of relaxation for the staff.  The memorial structures comprise a cast-stone Rotunda with six spiral-fluted Corinthian columns set on decorative pedestals and supporting a heavily enriched frieze with an openwork wrought-iron dome. Its paved circular stone base has a floral mosaic at the centre on which is a stone memorial tablet with two bronze plaques. The upper plaque has an angel with sword and armour, probably Archangel Michael, and an inscription in raised lettering: THESE MEN DIED FOR THEIR COUNTRY/ [548 NAMES]/ 1914-1919/ THE GAS LIGHT AND COKE COMPANY. The lower plaque is inscribed: TO THE MEMORY OF THOSE MEMBERS OF/ THE COMPANY WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE WAR/ OF 1939-45 REQUIESCANT IN PACE/ [NAMES]. There are 402 names on this plaque, which also has the arms of the company, featuring a pair of salamanders breathing fire.

Adjacent to the Rotunda is another memorial with a bronze plaque set on a stone tablet with a chamfered rectangular stone base. The inscription in raised lettering on the plaque reads: IN PROUD AND
GRATEFUL/ REMEMBRANCE/ MCMXIV. OF OUR COMRADES IN THESE WORKS/ MCMXVIII./ WHO DURING THE GREAT WAR/ LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES/ FOR US AND FOR THEIR COUNTRY./ [NAMES]/ “GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS”.

A statue of Sir Corbet Woodhall (1841-1916), engineer and Governor of the Gas Light and Coke Company, which had formerly stood at the Beckton works, was moved to the Memorial Garden after the gasworks closed. The Gas Light and Coke Company Memorial Lamp, also originally located at Beckton Gas Works, is just to the north of a late C19th company Roundel that is located outside the former London Gas Museum. Located nearby and inter-visible with the memorials and roundel, the seven surviving Bromley-by-Bow gasholders, all listed Grade II, are thought to be the largest group of Victorian gasholders in the world.

The Memorial Lamp, Rotunda and Plaque have all now been listed (2021), for their architectural and historic interest, as well as the group value with the listed gasholders, statue of Sir Corbett Woodhall and the late C19th company roundel outside the former London Gas Museum. The importance of these war memorials is given for being 'a rare surviving example of a memorial dedicated to the employees of a gas company and an eloquent witness to the tragic impact of world events on the workforce'. (Historic England Listing Document).