Lighting up Oswestry - "Roberts the Gas"
			Among a collection of paintings owned by the Town Council is one which portrays a man who in his time was responsible for a significant improvement in the lives of Oswestry's people This was Robert Roberts, known as " Roberts the Gas". He was born in 1777, and lived and worked at 2, Lower Brook Street, from 1810 until 1861, when he died. He was a glazier, and a plumber, but his best known work was in bringing gas to the town Gas, for lighting purposes had been tried experimentally in 1792, and introduced in London in 1807.
	Oswestry was quick to follow, and Roberts built the first gas works in Willow Street in 1820, next door to the town theatre, which was the very first building in Oswestry to be lit in this way By 31st December 1820, the residents of Bailey Street had collected together to have one street illuminated, and 2 lamps had been installed. In 1824 there was a proposal made that the Parish Church should have the benefits of the new invention, but it was not until 1831, after several Nonconformist Chapels had led the way, that Mr. Roberts received the order to install his gas lamps. However, it was agreed that the gas he provided should be free from any offensive smell and that if the officiator-clergyman detected any smell, Robert Roberts would not be paid for that evening! The money to light and heat the Parish Church was raised mainly by subscription and supplemented by collections and donations. The subscriptions were never very satisfactory and many of the more well-to-do citizens paid very little towards it. As a consequence on one gloomy winter's evening matters came to a head. There had been criticism of the lighting, and the usual money had not been forthcoming, so the Wardens ordered that no lights be lit. As the service proceeded it grew darker and darker until by the time the preacher came to read his text (which was sometimes half a chapter) he found he could not see it. Forgetting his prepared sermon he lectured the congregation sternly on their penny-pinching ways and the next Sunday the church was lit as usual. In 1867 the subscription was abandoned and a special collection taken at the morning and evening services on Sunday 1 3rd January, to replace it. The Parish Church was not an easy place to light, and the job was given to Mr. J. Berry and his sons, who had to lay planks over the pews in order to reach the huge iron rings known as chandeliers. In Oswestry generally, the shops were the first to use gas lighting, followed by homes, churches, and more slowly by the streets. By 1842, the demands had increased beyond the Willow Street Works ability to cope and Mr. Roberts, having built the first Gas Works, built the second as well. It was erected on land by the Gallows Fee Bank turnpike gate, on Salop Road, and its square, spiral tapering chimney was a well known landmark on the way into Oswestry along the Salop Road. In 1860 the Oswestry Gas Light and Coke Company was formed, for Roberts was now fairly advanced in years, although still hale and hearty, and in 1861 he died at the ripe age of 85.