West Ham Power Station

Infobox UK power station
static_

static_image_caption=West Ham 'B' Power Station 1974
os_grid_reference=TQ388818
latitude=51.5180
longitude=0.0014
country=England
region=London
metropolitan_county=Greater London
operator=Central Electricity Generating Board
fuel=Coal-fired
opened=1904
closed=

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.

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. ['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.]

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 and subsequently demolished in the 1980s.

References

External links

* [http://www.lalamy.demon.co.uk/timeline.htm West Ham's Timeline]
* [http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConNarrative.65/chapterId/1571/Powering-the-City.html Port Cities - Powering the City P8 - 'A' Station boiler house]
* [http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConNarrative.65/chapterId/1554/Powering-the-City.html Port Cities - Powering the City P5 - cooling ponds and cooling towers]