Local sites and local sights - An Exploration of Garsington Village

So what is there around Garsington and its immediate neighbourhood?

Cowley No. 1 Gasholder

Sitting in the middle of the view from Garsington as you travel down the Oxford Road is the magnificent Cowley No. 1 Gasholder. Although some regard it as an eye-sore, I think it is a marvellous piece of engineering.

So what is this engineering marvel?

Formally, it is a four-lift, spirally-guided, water-sealed gasholder
It was built in 1960 by Clayton Walker Gasholders (a division of MB Engineering Services Ltd.) who have been building gasholders since 1837
It can hold 113 000m³ (4 million cubic feet) of natural gas
It is a maximum of 56.4m (185ft) high
It is 60m (197ft) in diameter
It is made from approximately 1500 tonnes of steel
The gas is held in place by some 32 Ml (7 million gallons) of water in the base

There are not many of these beasts left these days. However, there are examples to be seen, relatively locally, in both Didcot and Aylesbury.

All details kindly supplied by National Grid Transco plc.

Crop Circles

The phenomenon of crop circles seems to have caught the public imagination in the last twenty years or so despite it being the out-of-hours pursuit of pranksters! However, Garsington gets into the news with them…