Blackburn Meadows - Power Station

Power Station

In 1921, Sheffield Corporation built a coal-fired power station on spare land at the south west corner of Blackburn Meadows. At the time there was no national grid, and the steelworks which occupied much of the Lower Don Valley needed additional electrical power. The chosen site was close to the steel works, was near the river, which supplied cooling water, and was well-served by railway lines, to deliver coal. The station was modified between 1937 and 1942, when its capacity was increased to 72 Megawatts, and remained operational until the 1970s. When the rest of the power station was demolished in the 1980s, two of its seven cooling towers were left standing due to their close proximity to the M1 motorway, and the risk that their demolition might cause Tinsley Viaduct to be damaged. The 250-foot (76 m) towers were hyperbolic in shape, and were designed by L. G. Mouchell and Partners, who had also been responsible for the first such towers erected at Liverpool in 1925. The Blackburn Meadows towers were built between 1937 and 1938. English Heritage considered whether they should be designated as listed structures, but ruled against it because the internal cooling structures had been removed, and there was no context for them, as the rest of the station no longer existed. On Sunday 24 August 2008 at 3 am, the two landmark towers were finally demolished with explosives, without damaging the motorway.