Monument record 0581804000 - SE corner of St John's Hospital grounds

Gasometer present on the 1879-1899 OS maps indicating a private gasworks to the Asylum, which
opened between 1851-53 as the 'Buckinghamshire County Pauper Lunatic Asylum' and was extended
in 1864 and 1868. The gasworks built to supply the Asylum. No evidence of surviving buildings, although the area is obscured by woodland (B12).
2 gasometers and 'gasworks' shown on 1879 1st edition 25-inch OS map. To the east of the gas house are a pair of semi-detached buildings, presumably the workers' houses (B5).
The gasworks provided lighting for the asylum complex. In 1854 David Brandon, the architect, reported 'The Gas Works consist of a Retort-house, having three cast iron retorts, one to be used in the summer, when comparatively little light is required, and the others as the demand increases, a Coal-house and Purifying-house. The Gas-holder is 16 feet in diameter, and contains about 2000 cubic feet of Gas, which is laid on from the works to the building by a three-inch main, and supplies the lights throughout the building, of which there are about 160, including one upon the lamp-post in the Kitchen court. These works and fittings have been executed by Messrs. Cockey of Frome. Near to the Gas Works have been erected two dwellings, one for the Engineer and the other for the Gardener, each containing a Sitting-room and Kitchen, with a small Scullery and Larder attached, and three Bed-rooms over' (B13).