Beauty is in the Eye of the Gas Holder

This afternoon I had a meeting at the bottom end of town - an area that once hosted the gas works, coal-fired power station, cattle market and slaughterhouse. Most of these are long gone and replaced by snazzy BMW showrooms, Currys, Costa Coffee and the like.

The former Huddersfield Gas Manufacturing Works covered an area of 3.2ha and was decommissioned in 1972. There were originally five gas holders but only one remains.

The remaining one is 127ft tall,  has a diameter of 220ft, and capacity to hold nearly five million cubic feet of gas. At the top of the dome, the metal is only about 1cm thick. The holder was originally built in 1916 but the bell was rebuilt 1968.

These architectural monsters are rapidly disappearing and the jury is out as to whether they should be preserved. 

Iconic, historic, nostalgic, beautiful. What do you think?