Report - Willington Cooling towers - July 2013

[paulpowers]

I've always wanted to visit the towers at sunset to see how the colour of the light bounces around inside the towers

I was on my way past so decided to pop in

I've lifted a few covers for the utility tunnels in a hope that during all this hot weather the water level drops enough to have a nosey so if anyone else goes don't fall down them like a dick

In the 1950s, two coal-fired power stations were built on a site off Twyford Road, between Willington and Findern. The stations were privatized 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 publicized because of its impregnable location.

John Wetton of rock band Asia was born in Willington in 1949 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlTvWvfEMxE

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And finally