This place is quite like anything else I’ve seen, possibly with the exception of RAF Stenigot. Explored with non-member GazzaM. There are few sites you can see five or so miles before you get to them. The five cooling towers at Willington dominate the flood planes of the Trent. You don’t really get the scale of them until you get up close and their size sinks in. The site itself is easy access and a really relaxed explore. Three of the five have still got the inner cooling systems in while the two nearest the main road have been cleared and are just shells. The site itself has been cleared and just the cooling towers are left. It gives an even more surreal feeling to the place. All-in-all a fantastic place. Hope that they don’t knock these titans to power generation down.
Here’s the history bit:
The coal-fired power station at Willington was built in the 1950s. Willington Power Station actually comprised of two almost entirely independent generating stations situated on the same site. With separate management and staff, the few facilities they shared amounted to the coal and water supply. The two stations were formally known as Willington ‘A’ and Willington ‘B’, with the ‘A’ Station closest to the main road. Station A came on line in 1957 and the B station a few years later. Two of the cooling towers belonged to the A station and 3 to the B station.Having operated throughout the 60s,70s and 80s on a nationalised basis they were then privatised and sold to National Power in 1989. It eventually closed in the 1990s, first station A in 1995 then the B station in 1999. As mentioned above most of the power station was demolished around 2000. The site was earmarked for a large residential development, pending the results of a public inquiry however the construction plans met with local opposition and in January 2009 the proposed redevelopment of the former Willington Power Station site were not granted planning approval. 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. In July 2013 plans were submitted to build a new gas-fired power station and if granted the cooling towers will be demolished.
The five towers dominate the Trent flood planes:
img3886 by HughieDW, on Flickr
They really are a stunning sight:
img3955 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3884 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3887 by HughieDW, on Flickr
The site around them is like some kind of flattened industrial wasteland:
img3890 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3892 by HughieDW, on Flickr
It seems unfeasible how the towers are held up by the concrete pillars:
img3898 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3899 by HughieDW, on Flickr
They literally tower above you:
img3902bw by HughieDW, on Flickr
Three have the internals in-tact, including the brick cooling fins:
img3905 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3907 by HughieDW, on Flickr
There’s even some graff in there:
img3906 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Most of the machinery has gone except for these fellas:
img3927 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3909 by HughieDW, on Flickr
You can walk right into the centre of the towers:
img3913 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3917 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3914 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Best not fall off the concrete walk-way:
img3919 by HughieDW, on Flickr
On to the two that have had the inners cleared:
img3956 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3933 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3945 by HughieDW, on Flickr
The view inside is as sublime as it is surreal:
img3938 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3934 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Outside the towers are smooth and featureless bar the odd hatch:
img3928 by HughieDW, on Flickr
img3931 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Bye bye five brothers…
img3957 by HughieDW, on Flickr
Here’s the history bit:
The coal-fired power station at Willington was built in the 1950s. Willington Power Station actually comprised of two almost entirely independent generating stations situated on the same site. With separate management and staff, the few facilities they shared amounted to the coal and water supply. The two stations were formally known as Willington ‘A’ and Willington ‘B’, with the ‘A’ Station closest to the main road. Station A came on line in 1957 and the B station a few years later. Two of the cooling towers belonged to the A station and 3 to the B station.Having operated throughout the 60s,70s and 80s on a nationalised basis they were then privatised and sold to National Power in 1989. It eventually closed in the 1990s, first station A in 1995 then the B station in 1999. As mentioned above most of the power station was demolished around 2000. The site was earmarked for a large residential development, pending the results of a public inquiry however the construction plans met with local opposition and in January 2009 the proposed redevelopment of the former Willington Power Station site were not granted planning approval. 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. In July 2013 plans were submitted to build a new gas-fired power station and if granted the cooling towers will be demolished.
The five towers dominate the Trent flood planes:
They really are a stunning sight:
The site around them is like some kind of flattened industrial wasteland:
It seems unfeasible how the towers are held up by the concrete pillars:
They literally tower above you:
Three have the internals in-tact, including the brick cooling fins:
There’s even some graff in there:
Most of the machinery has gone except for these fellas:
You can walk right into the centre of the towers:
Best not fall off the concrete walk-way:
On to the two that have had the inners cleared:
The view inside is as sublime as it is surreal:
Outside the towers are smooth and featureless bar the odd hatch:
Bye bye five brothers…
lol
