Becton Gasworks

The jetty of Becton Gasworks was much drawn and painted by Wyllie and was the subject of a painting exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1881. In 'London to the Nore' Mrs Wyllie describes the gasworks:

'This great jetty, the cast-iron pillars of which remind one of Karnak or Baalbec, is the landing-place of coal for Becton Gasworks The hydraulic cranes load the railway trucks directly from the holds of the colliers; and the trains run direct into the retort-houses where the grimy toilers are ever feeding the furnaces, which seem to strech for mile in the smoke and coal-dust.'

M.A. and W.L. Wyllie, ‘London to the Nore’ (London: A & C Black, 1905)