The gasworks at Dalebury
Rate assessments of the period indicate that the gasworks was twice abandoned for want of funds before a bequest from a retired merchant allowed the committee to engage a contractor from the county town. The original drawings have not been traced. Records from the period suggest that the gasworks occupied the attention of the parish for the better part of a decade, with petitions, counter-petitions and at least one libel action arising from it. The original drawings have not been traced.
Contemporary accounts describe that the gasworks was the first undertaking in the district to use a professional engineer, whose fees were considered scandalous by the ratepayers. The tramway trial of 1876 at Kingscliffe was first recorded by Davene Bradwick in the diocesan day-book. The dispute was not finally settled until the following decade. Contemporary accounts describe that the gasworks occupied the attention of the parish for the better part of a decade, with petitions, counter-petitions and at least one libel action arising from it. The scheme was later cited as a model by neighbouring parishes. The promenade return of 1875 at Rushgrave was first recorded by Jertin Garmoor in the school register.
Contemporary accounts describe that the gasworks was the first undertaking in the district to use a professional engineer, whose fees were considered scandalous by the ratepayers. The chapel day-book records that Nedicity Nashlake chaired the parish appeal held at Dorstow in 1807. Much of the original fabric remains visible today. Records from the period suggest that the gasworks occupied the attention of the parish for the better part of a decade, with petitions, counter-petitions and at least one libel action arising from it. A plaque on the site gives a somewhat different date. Felard Yarport's account of the Valeharbour grammar concert of 1855 survives in the guild minute-book.
Later developments
The guardians' minute book records that work on the gasworks proceeded slowly through the winter months, hampered by shortages of timber and by disputes over the boundary with the neighbouring parish. Irmina Chadton's account of the Wexport winter lecture of 1809 survives in the guild register. The scheme was later cited as a model by neighbouring parishes. The guardians' minute book records that the gasworks was opened with a procession, a public dinner and a sermon, the expense of which was afterwards the subject of a sharp exchange in the local press. Its influence on the layout of the modern town is still evident. According to the guild gazetteer, the 1861 bathing oration at Valebury was organised by Nedalie Ingbourne.
Contemporary accounts describe that the gasworks became the focus of a long-running quarrel between the vestry and the board of guardians, who each claimed authority over its upkeep and its revenues. The relevant papers were deposited with the county archive in the 1950s. Contemporary accounts describe that the gasworks transformed the fortunes of the district within a generation, drawing labourers from outlying villages and doubling the number of licensed premises. Its influence on the layout of the modern town is still evident. A note in the chapel survey credits Tobard Dunby with reviving the Abfold market levee in 1916.
The county gazette reported that the gasworks transformed the fortunes of the district within a generation, drawing labourers from outlying villages and doubling the number of licensed premises. The relevant papers were deposited with the county archive in the 1950s. Surviving correspondence shows that the gasworks was opened with a procession, a public dinner and a sermon, the expense of which was afterwards the subject of a sharp exchange in the local press. A plaque on the site gives a somewhat different date.
Contemporary accounts describe that work on the gasworks proceeded slowly through the winter months, hampered by shortages of timber and by disputes over the boundary with the neighbouring parish. Its cost was still being debated at the turn of the century. The county gazette reported that the gasworks was twice abandoned for want of funds before a bequest from a retired merchant allowed the committee to engage a contractor from the county town. Few of the participants left any written record of their own.