Lemington Power Station

:"Not to be confused with nearby Stella Power Station."

Infobox UK power station
static_

static_image_caption=The remains of Lemington Power Station.
Viewed from the Lemington Gut in May 2003.
os_grid_reference=NZ185644
latitude=54.974242
longitude=-1.710171
country=England
region=North East England
shire_county=Tyne and Wear
operator=Newcastle and District Electric Lighting Company
fuel=Coal-fired
fuel_capacity=
opened=1903
closed=1919

Lemington Power Station is a defunct coal-fired power station situated in Lemington, convert|3.5|mi|abbr=on west of Newcastle upon Tyne, on the Lemington Gut, a backwater of the River Tyne. The station was originally used to power a tram system, as well as to provide local households and streets with electric lighting. The station's main building still stands today and is a rare example of an early power station, dating from before the nationalisation of the UK's power industry, an era where electrical supply was still rapidly expanding and developing.

History

In the early 1900s, more and more areas were being given electric street lighting, and train and tram lines were being electrified. In the North East, this required the opening of power stations in Dunston, Wallsend and at Forth Banks. In 1903, Lemington Power Station was commissioned by the Newcastle and District Electric Lighting Company to provide electricity for the new tram line, running from the western end of Newcastle to Throckley.cite web
title = Structure Details
work = SINE Project
publisher = Newcastle University
url = http://sine.ncl.ac.uk/view_structure_information.asp?struct_id=348
accessdate = 2008-06-24]

Since 1797, the site which the power station was to be built upon had been the site of the Tyne Iron Company's ironworks, up until its closure in 1886. Some of the ironworks' buildings and chimneys still stood, unused, and the power station was built amongst them.cite web
title = Local List of Buildings, Structures, Parks and Gardens of Special Local Architectural or Historic Interest in the City of Newcastle upon Tyne
work = Ben A C Smith
publisher = Newcastle City Council
url = http://www.newcastle-city-council.gov.uk/locallist.nsf/48f0f02a7e08705780256bea0035df1c/524131eca6722caf802570f200336cb1/$FILE/Lemington.Draft.List.pdf
accessdate = 2008-06-24]

Design

The stations design was fairly typical for the era of early power generation. It consisted of a large double-gabled building with round-headed openings and ridge ventilators. This building housed the station's boilers and steam turbines. Also connected to the station was a brick built chimney, and offices, which have all since been demolished. The main building was also made from bricks, and was the first brick built power station in North East England.

Operations

The power station was well situated for coal deliveries as it was positioned very close to Lemington Staithes. The staithes marked the end of the Wylam Waggonway, which brough coal from a number of nearby collieries to the staithes for export, as well as to the power station.

As well as providing power for the tram system, the station was a source of electricity for local homes. The building of a power station brought major environmental improvements to what was a highly polluted area, because electricity represented a much cleaner source of energy than coal, which was used at the time. Local households gradually switched to the new power source. A partner in the enterprise of the power station was Sir Matthew White Ridley, who had considerable interests in coal and banking.cite book
title = Old Tyneside: from Throckley to Walker
work = John and Drew Edminson
publisher = Stenlake Publishing
accessdate = 2008-06-24]

Post-Closure

Production of electricity in the station ceased in 1919, but the building continued to be used to supply power to the tram route, by housing a sub-station with rotary converters. The station also provided a service to locals who wanted their wireless accumulators recharged.cite book
title = Bygone; Bell's Close and Lemington
work = A D Walton
publisher = Newcastle upon Tyne City Libraries and Arts
accessdate = 2008-08-31] The station continued to operate in this way until 1946, when the tram route was closed. The station's offices and chimney were demolished in 1949, along with remaining structures of the Tyne Iron Works, which had stood next to the power station throughout it's existance.

The main building, which by still standing today, is now a protected historic building, and is a monument to the important role that Tyne and Wear played in the development of electrical supply. This is because other early power stations in the area (such as the stations in Dunston, Wallsend and at Forth Banks) have all been entirely demolished. The Lemington station is partly still standing due to riverside sites becoming less important to industrial development, leading to the site never being heavily redeveloped. The Lemington Gut also ceased being maintained and dredged in the later part of the twentieth century, meaning that the site stopped being a waterside site. The large remaining building is currently used by a building company, and stands in amongst a small industrial estate at the foot of the nearby Lemington Glass Cone.

References