National Gas Museum

A gas powered projector. Natural Gas Museum on Flickr

Housed in the gatehouse of a former Victorian gasworks, Britain’s Natural Gas Museum collects the artifacts and machinery of the world’s rich history of gas power.

Open since 1977, the Natural Gas Museum was started by a national trust that has set out to make sure England’s history of gas usage both in the home and in industry is preserved. The collection is held across two floors in the gatehouse of the former Leicester Corporation Gas Works, once a major provider of industrial gas in the area. The museum holds over 4,000 items in its collection including such mundane things as stoves and lighting fixtures and more obscure pieces of gas powered machinery such as irons and possibly most surprisingly a radio that worked via gas power.

Whether visitors are interested in industrial history or the realty behind steampunk machinery, this collection doesn’t stink.

Know Before You Go

The address will lead you to the British Gas Leicester site. The museum is located in the building with the clock tower; you'll see us from the road! If you're coming by car there is parking round the back of the building; or if you're using public transport there are bus routes that stop immediately outside the museum.