52°29′35.6″N 1°52′49.7″W / 52.493222°N 1.880472°W
The Windsor Street Gasworks was a coal gas and coke manufacturing site in Nechells, Birmingham. The works were constructed in 1846 for the Birmingham Gas Light and Coke Company adjacent to the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal to allow for the bulk import of coal. The company was taken over by the Birmingham Corporation in 1875 and under mayor Joseph Chamberlain and engineer Charles Hunt the Windsor Street site was expanded and connected to the London and North Western Railway. Hunt's works included the construction, in 1885, of gasholders No. 13 and No.14, the largest in the world at that time, as well as modernisation of production.
The Corporation continued to develop the site in the early 20th century and it became home to the largest continuous vertical retort set-up in the world. It was also the first to utilise steam from the retorts to help power machinery on the site. Gasholder No. 12, higher than No. 13 and 14, was built in 1934. The gasworks transferred to the West Midlands gas board during nationalisation in 1948 and, later to British Gas. The site ended production in 1974 due to the availability of natural gas from the North Sea. The three large gasholders remained in use until 2012 and became a familiar landmark, painted in the colours of local football club Aston Villa F.C. Now owned by National Grid plc, the gasholders are in the process of demolition.