Seal and stamp - Rye Gas and Coke Company. Bearing the Coat of Arms of the Cinque Ports, which shows Rye’s importance as a medieval port. Part of a collection of fifteen seals and thirteen stamps manufactured by gas companies that operated in the South East of England in the nineteenth century (from the counties of Kent, West Sussex, East Sussex and Surrey).

These seals and stamps would allow the gas companies to mark items as officially checked and tested or as belonging to the company.

Monuments to the Victorian and early-twentieth century gas industry in Britain are disappearing from our urban landscapes. Gas holders, once a familiar sight, described by the BBC as “sentinels of the industrial age,” are being dismantled to make way for property development. These small objects serve as a physical reminder of an industrial landscape that is vanishing.