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Friday 19 August 2016

Willington Cooling Towers

This site had been on my Urbex "to-do list" for quite some time. On a sunny August day, after a failed attempt to access a mill in Derbyshire with Judderman, the chance presented itself to me to get it ticked off the list.


A little history, courtesy of Wikipedia:
In the 1950s, two coal-fired power stations were built on a site off Twyford Road, between Willington and Findern. The stations were privatised and sold to National Power in the early 1990s and eventually closed in the mid-1990s. Although most of the stations were demolished at the turn of the millennium, the five cooling towers continue to dominate the skyline of the local area. The site is earmarked for a large residential development, pending the results of a public inquiry. The construction plans have been met with local opposition, perhaps due to the site's proximity to the River Trent's flood plain. In the mid-1990s a pair of peregrine falcons nested in one of the site's huge cooling towers. Unlike many bird of prey breeding sites, this was widely publicised because of its impregnable location.
The power station was also the subject of a short documentary by Channel 4 titled "Drones in Forbidden Zones".

It seemed that many other explorers had trodden the well-established path through the long grass towards the five cooling towers.

 
The first tower was clear inside, save for a box of spent fireworks in a box labelled "Power Station Firework Party". That must have been some party - the acoustics in there were amazing - just throwing an average sized stone on the ground resulted in an impressive gun-shot sound!
 
 
 
 
Standing in the centre of the cooling tower, looking up at the opening was awesome!
 
 
 
 
Onto the third cooling tower. The third, fourth and fifth towers were of a different design internally.
 
 
The sheer size of the towers is astonishing.
 
 
This concrete beam was just asking to be walked on!
 
 

 
The view, looking up from the centre of the tower (at the end of the beam)










 

 
 
And that was that - what a shame that these fabulous structures will soon be demolished!
 
 

1 comment:

  1. Cracking write up and good pics. Glad you got to experience this. I love cooling towers beyond measure and love just standing in one :)

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