Willington Cooling Towers, Derbyshire, March 2016

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HughieD

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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:

25510114435_6bceb57761_b.jpgimg3886 by HughieDW, on Flickr

They really are a stunning sight:

25391672782_9fb67fb67b_b.jpgimg3955 by HughieDW, on Flickr

25142614889_b02ed43e11_b.jpgimg3884 by HughieDW, on Flickr

24883379473_48c1dd5fa6_b.jpgimg3887 by HughieDW, on Flickr

The site around them is like some kind of flattened industrial wasteland:
25142502819_da835e49b5_b.jpgimg3890 by HughieDW, on Flickr

24879456444_b1934d7c22_b.jpgimg3892 by HughieDW, on Flickr

It seems unfeasible how the towers are held up by the concrete pillars:

25509918805_91385a554e_b.jpgimg3898 by HughieDW, on Flickr

25483759476_0f32f00edc_b.jpgimg3899 by HughieDW, on Flickr

They literally tower above you:

25509801335_1a78d5aea8_b.jpgimg3902bw by HughieDW, on Flickr

Three have the internals in-tact, including the brick cooling fins:

25391257412_02e24cb9d4_b.jpgimg3905 by HughieDW, on Flickr

25483578276_772b69bf26_b.jpgimg3907 by HughieDW, on Flickr

There’s even some graff in there:

25416924391_5aba5e5825_b.jpgimg3906 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Most of the machinery has gone except for these fellas:

25141781239_22de34cc7e_b.jpgimg3927 by HughieDW, on Flickr
25416851661_2a3fb9b044_b.jpgimg3909 by HughieDW, on Flickr

You can walk right into the centre of the towers:

25509598375_0566448730_b.jpgimg3913 by HughieDW, on Flickr

25213867900_55a3721e2a_b.jpgimg3917 by HughieDW, on Flickr

25483451176_47bb1e3b47_b.jpgimg3914 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Best not fall off the concrete walk-way:

25509442575_e242a54bc1_b.jpgimg3919 by HughieDW, on Flickr

On to the two that have had the inners cleared:

25143161619_5e7def30df_b.jpgimg3956 by HughieDW, on Flickr

25143322199_8d464da1d2_b.jpgimg3933 by HughieDW, on Flickr

25417957661_3c25f19b90_b.jpgimg3945 by HughieDW, on Flickr

The view inside is as sublime as it is surreal:

25509270105_d62c06f6e1_b.jpgimg3938 by HughieDW, on Flickr

25215203200_c3beb8f287_b.jpgimg3934 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Outside the towers are smooth and featureless bar the odd hatch:

25510940965_2b25ce9b57_b.jpgimg3928 by HughieDW, on Flickr

25143351059_b2cef53aaf_b.jpgimg3931 by HughieDW, on Flickr

Bye bye five brothers…

25392145112_5c8ffcdae0_b.jpgimg3957 by HughieDW, on Flickr
 
Last edited:
That's what the rumour was, but doesn't seem to be much action going on.
 
Some great images but especially like the brutalist look of #9 (3902)
 
Cheers folks. Searched on the net and no references to their impending demolition. Certainly no tell-tale signs of demo on site

Awesome, can feel a drone flight coming on Saturday ! should be able to fly straight up the towers !
 
Nice set of these hughie..really enjoyed them.shame they won't be there much longer
 
I see you made it to the five brothers. The plans for the site is a replacement power station and the demolition of the cooling towers. The proposed date is March.
 

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