Retort House

The Fakenham Gasworks Museum is a real gem and highly recommended to anyone interested in industrial history. At one time the works employed 8 men and supplied 500 homes.It closed in 1965 but was preserved and made into a museum in 1987. It is the only complete surviving gasworks in England.

This is the retort house which dates from 1907 - 1910 with 14 retorts grouped around two furnaces. The ascension pipes can be seen rising from the retorts to feed the gas and by-products into the hydraulic main above. The hydraulic main was essential to stop gas feeding back when the retorts were opened for recharging.