Beckton Gasworks was a major London gasworks built to manufacture coal gas and other products including coke from coal. It has been variously described as 'the largest such plant in the world' and 'the largest gas works in Europe'. It operated from 1870 to 1976, with an associated by-products works that operated from 1879 to 1970. The works were located on East Ham Level, on the north bank of the Thames at Gallions Reach, to the west of Barking Creek. History The plant was opened in 1870 by the Gas Light and Coke Company (GLCC). The name Beckton was given to the plant and the surrounding area of east London in honour of the company's governor Simon Adams Beck (1803-1883). It came eventually to manufacture gas for most of London north of the Thames, with numerous smaller works being closed. Its counterpart south of the river was the South Metropolitan Gas Co's East Greenwich Gas Works on the Greenwich Peninsula. Town gas was produced using coal carbonisation and was conveyed to central London through a 48-inch (1.22 m) diameter gas main to the City of London with an extension to Westminster. The 48-inch main was subsequently duplicated. To augment gas supplies the GLCC built a carburetted water gas (CWG) plant at Beckton in 1890 capable of producing 10 million cubic feet per day (283,166 m3/d). The capacity of the CWG plant had risen to 40 million cubic feet per day (1.133 million m3/d) by 1934. However, the majority of the gas was still produced by coal carbonisation. After the Second World War a major reconstruction project was undertaken by the civil engineer T. P. O'Sullivan of Brian Colquhoun and Partners. Following nationalisation in 1949 the plant was owned by the North Thames Gas Board. In 1949 Beckton was the largest gas works in the world, capable of producing a total of 119.12 million cubic feet of gas per day (3.37 million m3/day). Over the next 20 years a series of upgrades to the works were undertaken: In 1952 a modern carburetted water gas plant was built with a capacity of 20 million cubic feet per day (566,332 m3/day). During 1957 a butane/air plant was built at Beckton to augment peak-load gas supplies. In 1959 a catalytic reforming plant was commissioned. This used tail gases from the refineries at Coryton and Shell Haven, delivered by pipeline, as a feedstock to manufacture