Birmingham gas holders painted in Aston Villa colours to be taken down
Birmingham's last-remaining gas holders are to disappear from the city skyline.
The three structures, seen by thousands of motorists every day on the A38(M) Aston Expressway, used to store gas to illuminate Birmingham's streets. The Windsor Street Gasworks, which started production in the 1840s, was once home to 11 gas holders that held town gas created from burning coal. National Grid wants to solve a mystery of why the towers were painted in Aston Villa's colours of claret and blue. Sarah Rea, Land Regeneration Manager at National Grid, said: "We believe the gas holders were painted in Aston Villa colours in the 1980s and there are lots of theories about how this came about, but it would be great if we could solve the mystery once and for all. "It's believed that the engineer once in charge of maintenance chose the colours because he was a supporter of the club, but we don't know this for sure." She added: "We recognise that these gas holders have been a part of the skyline in the area for many years and, as well as trying to solve the painting mystery, we'll be making sure we undertake detailed heritage recording at the site as the work progresses. "We've set up a website for the project where people can find out more about the history of Windsor Street and also download a booklet about the history of the gas industry in Birmingham." Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk Related Internet Links National Grid