West Ham Power Station

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Coordinates: 51°31′05″N 0°00′05″E / 51.5180°N 0.0014°E / 51.5180; 0.0014

West Ham Power Station

West Ham B Power Station.jpg
West Ham 'B' Power Station 1974

West Ham Power Station is located in Greater London

West Ham Power Station shown within Greater London
OS grid reference TQ388818
Operator: Central Electricity Generating Board
Fuel: Coal-fired 114 MW
Commissioned: 1904
Decommissioned: 1983

West Ham Power Station was a coal-fired power station on Bow Creek (the tidal mouth of the River Lea) at Canning Town, in east London. It was often referred to informally as Canning Town Power Station.

[edit] History

The first power station at Canning Town was opened by West Ham Borough Council in 1904, in part to supply the borough's tramways. It replaced an earlier startion built in 1898 at Abbey Mills. The station was extended several times between 1904 and 1930, making West Ham one of the largest municipal electricity suppliers in London.[1]

The station was located off the long-demolished Tucker Street. It was damaged in a bombing raid in September 1940 during the Second World War. The operating of the station was taken over by London Electricity Board in 1947, who completed a new West Ham 'B' Power Station to the south of the original station in 1951. This had two prominent concrete cooling towers in place of the cooling ponds of the earlier station, and railway sidings linked to the North London Line at Stephenson Street. Having been taken over by the CEGB in the late 1950s, the B station was closed on 31 October 1983 with a generating capacity of 114 MW.[2] It was subsequently demolished.

[edit] References

  1. ^ 'West Ham: Local government and public services', A History of the County of Essex: Volume 6 (1973), pp. 96-112. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42758. Date accessed: 25 November 2007.
  2. ^ Mr. Redmond (16 January 1984). "Coal-fired Power Stations". Hansard. http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/written_answers/1984/jan/16/coal-fired-power-stations#S6CV0052P0_19840116_CWA_281. Retrieved 1 September 2009. 

[edit] External links