Monument MPM1929 - Gas holder columns, Portfield Road

Two large iron columns from a gas holder frame at Rudmore. The columns were erected on the east side of Portfield Road in Hilsea during the c1990s.

Two large iron columns situated on the grass verge on the east side of Portfield Road, Hilsea. The columns originally formed part of a gas holder frame at Rudmore. They were moved to Hilsea gasworks after the Rudmore site closed, and were erected in their current location post-c1991. When viewed at the Hilsea gasworks site in 1991/2 they were painted a faded red. The columns are now painted a light blue. The columns may have been from a gas holder that was damaged during a bombing raid in 1940. The plinths that support the columns appear to be modern replacements, as historic photographs of the Rudmore gas holder show they were originally a different shape and were decorated with large cast iron roses.

Portsea Island Gas Company, 1940, Photographs of air raid damage at Rudmore Works, July 1940 (Photograph). SPM531.

HER Officer, 2018, Gas Holder Columns Portfield Road Hilsea (Unpublished document). SPM529.