Baffled gas engineers unearth a mystery
An ancient tool – possibly an old-fashioned gas lighter - was found in boxes at the site in Rome Street.
Now engineers are wondering whether a member of the public will be able to shed light on the find.
Engineers are getting ready to leave their traditional Rome Street home in January after a history on the site stretching back more than 100 years.
Their new home will be a few hundred yards away in Nelson Street, where United Utilities already has offices.
Network Officer Tony Graham said no-one was really sure what the tool was.
“It is clearly used to ignite gas and seems to have connections for a battery. The words NIPHAN S1 are printed on the shaft and it is made of iron and brass. It has been sitting in our records department gathering dust for years.”
Other finds on the site include a 50 year old cast iron drilling machine, a gas detection device from the 1960s and a gas alarm from the 1970s.
The Rome Street depot – formerly the city’s old gas works – was once a major industrial site but is now in the process of being cleaned up by its owners National Grid Property Ltd for a new modern future. United Utilities only leased the site.
United Utilities, which already has offices and a depot in Nelson Street, took over the running of northern Cumbria’s gas mains on behalf of Northern Gas Networks in June.
The site is used mainly as a storage and collection facility but is the permanent base for a handful of engineers and managers.
Once they have moved, all that will remain on site to remind people of its former life will be the framework of a former gas holder, which is now a listed building, and a small amount of pipework.
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