Why would there be a gas supply to an outhouse?

[JemimaTiggywinkle]

In the process of having the kitchen renovated, we’ve discovered a gas supply that goes from the kitchen, under the ground and into the outhouse. It enters the outhouse wall and there is a gas tap inside the outhouse.

We’ve had it disconnected, but just out of curiosity, does anyone know why it would have been there?

The house is 1950s on a housing estate originally built for a nearby navy base.

The outhouse was built at the same time, it is brick with a flat asbestos roof and has two rooms - one toilet, and one other small room that we use as a shed (this is where the gas tap is).

The gas pipe goes under the outhouse, so hasn’t been added later.

Heating? A kiln?

in the old days, some houses had a "wash-house" needing hot water for laundry.

I only remember seeing copper hot ater containers and solid-fuel boilers or fireplaces, but Forces homes might have been following the old pattern, updated to have a gas burner.

Very old homes often had little electrical power, but by 1950 electrical engineers had taken on board that electrical equipment, including immersion heaters and washing machines, might become mass-market products even for the common people.

Wash boiler I should gthink

think

Where I grew up, Our outdoor toilet had a chimney on it as it used to have a tiny seperate room with a fireplace, so people could warm things (like bath tubs etc). I imagine it’s the same concept.

Boiler for washing I would assume.

The wash house theory might be right, thank you.

There’s also a blocked up chimney breast in the kitchen and the neighbours say there used to be a big boiler in it - I don’t know if that was gas or coal though, and could have been a later addition.

We have our gas boiler in the outhouse - there is an underground pipe between kitchen and outhouse (about 2m). Our house is 1870s, so was definitely a retrofit though.

Used as a workshop of some sort, maybe?

All the above suggestions are good, but a bit dull. I reckon it was used as a laboratory by a mad scientist who was searching for an elixir to stop the effects of gravity on aging human bodies.

NetballHoop you could be on to something.
I'm changing my guess to meth lab