Bold, Merseyside
Encyclopedia
Bold is a civil parish
in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens
in Merseyside
, England
. Bold itself is situated to the south east of St Helens
, near to the boundaries with Halton
and Warrington
in Cheshire
. The parish extends southwards beyond the M62 motorway
and includes the hamlet of Bold Heath along with the Clock Face
and New Bold area of St Helens. According to the 2001 Census
it had a population of 2,283.
The 150th anniversary event of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway
and the Rainhill Trials
was held on the extensive rail sidings at Bold in May 1980. The event featured a working replicas of Stephenson's Rocket
and Sans Pareil
, a tilting train
and a selection of main line railway locomotives.
on adjacent land. These power stations had a total electricity generating capacity of 300 megawatt
s (MW). At the time of completion, between 1958 and 1960, they were the largest such generating facility in the north west. The colliery and power stations are now closed, with the latter site redeveloped for housing and the creation of public open spaces. Other industry in the area included a large engineering works which is now an industrial estate.
Bold A and B Power Stations were coal fired
, with a direct coal conveyor belt
link from a washery at the colliery. This fed either directly to coal bunkers in both stations or to a stocking area. The extensive rail sidings were utilised for coal delivery, either from Bold Colliery or from other collieries via the main Liverpool to Manchester Lines
. The coal from Bold Colliery was deep mined and therefore costly to recover. In later years, due to commercial reasons, the main coal supply became mostly by road from either Yorkshire or Scotland.
The 'A' power station had an installed capacity of 120 MW. It consisted of four 30 MW two-cylinder turbine
s/alternator
s manufactured by Metropolitan-Vickers
and Associated Electrical Industries
(AEI). No.3 M/C was installed with the first direct water-cooled alternator. Steam was supplied from four Yarrow & Co. coal fired boiler
s with tangentially fired tilting pulverized fuel burners, with 3no type LM13 table mills made by ICL of Derby.
The 'B' power station was installed with three 60 MW machines (equalling 180 MW total capacity). It used a central unit control system with the turbine/hydrogen cooled alternators manufactured by the General Electric Company (GEC). As with 'A' power station, no.3 alternator was a prototype
direct water-cooled machine. The coolant water was fed via glass tubes on the three-phase
connections. Each unit had boilers manufactured by John Thompson of Wolverhampton, each using two suction ball mills each with two exhausters, these feeding to twelve front wall pulverized fuel burners. The boilers fed steam at 900 psi
/900 degrees Fahrenheit directly to each turbine/alternator.
's 32/32A/32C, 33/33A, 121 and 122, Merseytravel
's 140, 265 and 141 services, Halton Transport
's 17/17A/17B and Strawberry Bus' Line 1 service. However there are no train stations located in the ward with the nearest being Lea Green railway station
and St Helens Junction railway station
located in the Sutton, Merseyside ward.
) and a series of mini supermarkets and off-licenses. The nearest chain supermarkets are a Morrisons
supermarket, Tesco
Metro store and branches of The Co-operative Food
which are located in bordering wards. There is also a Post Office Ltd branch located in the Clock Face, Merseyside
area of the ward.
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...
in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens
Metropolitan Borough of St Helens
The Metropolitan Borough of St Helens is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, in North West England. It is named after its largest town St Helens, and covers an area which includes the settlements of Newton-le-Willows, Earlestown, Haydock, Rainhill, Eccleston, Clock Face, Billinge and...
in Merseyside
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. Bold itself is situated to the south east of St Helens
St Helens, Merseyside
St Helens is a large town in Merseyside, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens with a population of just over 100,000, part of an urban area with a total population of 176,843 at the time of the 2001 Census...
, near to the boundaries with Halton
Halton (borough)
Halton is a local government district in North West England, with borough status and administered by a unitary authority. It was created in 1974 as a district of Cheshire, and became a unitary authority area on 1 April 1998. It consists of the towns of Widnes and Runcorn and the civil parishes of...
and Warrington
Warrington
Warrington is a town, borough and unitary authority area of Cheshire, England. It stands on the banks of the River Mersey, which is tidal to the west of the weir at Howley. It lies 16 miles east of Liverpool, 19 miles west of Manchester and 8 miles south of St Helens...
in Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
. The parish extends southwards beyond the M62 motorway
M62 motorway
The M62 motorway is a west–east trans-Pennine motorway in Northern England, connecting the cities of Liverpool and Hull via Manchester and Leeds. The road also forms part of the unsigned Euroroutes E20 and E22...
and includes the hamlet of Bold Heath along with the Clock Face
Clock Face, Merseyside
Clock Face is an area of St. Helens, Merseyside, England, south of the town centre, situated near Sutton Manor in the district of Sutton, and just north of the M62 motorway. Historically a part of Lancashire, Clock Face forms part of the parish of Bold. It is also a ward within the Metropolitan...
and New Bold area of St Helens. According to the 2001 Census
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
it had a population of 2,283.
History
Bold is on the former site of the estate ( in 1848, almost 7000 acres) of Bold Hall, the home of the ancient family of Bolde, who settled there before the Norman Conquest and ran the estate for hundreds of years. When Peter Bold MP died in 1761, leaving three daughters but no son, the estate passed out of the hands of the family and was eventually broken up. The Hall and the remaining 1500 acres were sold in 1893 to a syndicate of colliery proprietors.The 150th anniversary event of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway
Liverpool and Manchester Railway
The Liverpool and Manchester Railway was the world's first inter-city passenger railway in which all the trains were timetabled and were hauled for most of the distance solely by steam locomotives. The line opened on 15 September 1830 and ran between the cities of Liverpool and Manchester in North...
and the Rainhill Trials
Rainhill Trials
The Rainhill Trials were an important competition in the early days of steam locomotive railways, run in October 1829 in Rainhill, Lancashire for the nearly completed Liverpool and Manchester Railway....
was held on the extensive rail sidings at Bold in May 1980. The event featured a working replicas of Stephenson's Rocket
Stephenson's Rocket
Stephenson's Rocket was an early steam locomotive of 0-2-2 wheel arrangement, built in Newcastle Upon Tyne at the Forth Street Works of Robert Stephenson and Company in 1829.- Design innovations :...
and Sans Pareil
Sans Pareil
Sans Pareil is a steam locomotive built by Timothy Hackworth which took part in the 1829 Rainhill Trials on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, held to select a builder of locomotives...
, a tilting train
Tilting train
A tilting train is a train that has a mechanism enabling increased speed on regular rail tracks. As a train rounds a curve at speed, objects inside the train experience centrifugal force. This can cause packages to slide about or seated passengers to feel squashed by the outboard armrest due to...
and a selection of main line railway locomotives.
Economy
The Bold area was the site of Bold Colliery, with Bold A and B Power StationsBold Power Station
Bold Power Station refers to a series of two coal-fired power stations situated in Bold near St Helens in Merseyside, North West England.-History:...
on adjacent land. These power stations had a total electricity generating capacity of 300 megawatt
Watt
The watt is a derived unit of power in the International System of Units , named after the Scottish engineer James Watt . The unit, defined as one joule per second, measures the rate of energy conversion.-Definition:...
s (MW). At the time of completion, between 1958 and 1960, they were the largest such generating facility in the north west. The colliery and power stations are now closed, with the latter site redeveloped for housing and the creation of public open spaces. Other industry in the area included a large engineering works which is now an industrial estate.
Bold A and B Power Stations were coal fired
Fossil fuel power plant
A fossil-fuel power station is a power station that burns fossil fuels such as coal, natural gas or petroleum to produce electricity. Central station fossil-fuel power plants are designed on a large scale for continuous operation...
, with a direct coal conveyor belt
Conveyor belt
A conveyor belt consists of two or more pulleys, with a continuous loop of material - the conveyor belt - that rotates about them. One or both of the pulleys are powered, moving the belt and the material on the belt forward. The powered pulley is called the drive pulley while the unpowered pulley...
link from a washery at the colliery. This fed either directly to coal bunkers in both stations or to a stocking area. The extensive rail sidings were utilised for coal delivery, either from Bold Colliery or from other collieries via the main Liverpool to Manchester Lines
Liverpool to Manchester Lines
There are two Liverpool to Manchester railway lines between the cities of Liverpool and Manchester in the North West of England. The 'Northern Route' via and to either or follows the route of the original Liverpool and Manchester Railway...
. The coal from Bold Colliery was deep mined and therefore costly to recover. In later years, due to commercial reasons, the main coal supply became mostly by road from either Yorkshire or Scotland.
The 'A' power station had an installed capacity of 120 MW. It consisted of four 30 MW two-cylinder turbine
Turbine
A turbine is a rotary engine that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work.The simplest turbines have one moving part, a rotor assembly, which is a shaft or drum with blades attached. Moving fluid acts on the blades, or the blades react to the flow, so that they move and...
s/alternator
Alternator
An alternator is an electromechanical device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy in the form of alternating current.Most alternators use a rotating magnetic field but linear alternators are occasionally used...
s manufactured by Metropolitan-Vickers
Metropolitan-Vickers
Metropolitan-Vickers, Metrovick, or Metrovicks, was a British heavy electrical engineering company of the early-to-mid 20th century formerly known as British Westinghouse. Highly diversified, they were particularly well known for their industrial electrical equipment such as generators, steam...
and Associated Electrical Industries
Associated Electrical Industries
Associated Electrical Industries was a British holding company formed in 1928 through the merger of the British Thomson-Houston Company and Metropolitan-Vickers electrical engineering companies...
(AEI). No.3 M/C was installed with the first direct water-cooled alternator. Steam was supplied from four Yarrow & Co. coal fired boiler
Boiler
A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications.-Materials:...
s with tangentially fired tilting pulverized fuel burners, with 3no type LM13 table mills made by ICL of Derby.
The 'B' power station was installed with three 60 MW machines (equalling 180 MW total capacity). It used a central unit control system with the turbine/hydrogen cooled alternators manufactured by the General Electric Company (GEC). As with 'A' power station, no.3 alternator was a prototype
Prototype
A prototype is an early sample or model built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from.The word prototype derives from the Greek πρωτότυπον , "primitive form", neutral of πρωτότυπος , "original, primitive", from πρῶτος , "first" and τύπος ,...
direct water-cooled machine. The coolant water was fed via glass tubes on the three-phase
Three-phase electric power
Three-phase electric power is a common method of alternating-current electric power generation, transmission, and distribution. It is a type of polyphase system and is the most common method used by grids worldwide to transfer power. It is also used to power large motors and other heavy loads...
connections. Each unit had boilers manufactured by John Thompson of Wolverhampton, each using two suction ball mills each with two exhausters, these feeding to twelve front wall pulverized fuel burners. The boilers fed steam at 900 psi
Pounds per square inch
The pound per square inch or, more accurately, pound-force per square inch is a unit of pressure or of stress based on avoirdupois units...
/900 degrees Fahrenheit directly to each turbine/alternator.
Transport
Many bus services serve the Bold ward including Arriva North WestArriva North West
Arriva North West is a division of Arriva that operates bus services around North West England. It consists of two companies: Arriva North West Ltd and Arriva Merseyside Ltd....
's 32/32A/32C, 33/33A, 121 and 122, Merseytravel
Merseytravel
Merseytravel Merseytravel Merseytravel (MPTE, or Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive, is the Passenger Transport Executive responsible for the coordination of public transport in the metropolitan county of Merseyside, England...
's 140, 265 and 141 services, Halton Transport
Halton Transport
Halton Transport is a bus operator running within the Borough of Halton and into the surrounding area, including Warrington, St Helens, Prescot, Liverpool and Chester...
's 17/17A/17B and Strawberry Bus' Line 1 service. However there are no train stations located in the ward with the nearest being Lea Green railway station
Lea Green railway station
Lea Green railway station is a railway station in St Helens, Merseyside, England, around three miles from the town centre near to the suburb of Clock Face. It is situated on the northern route of the Liverpool to Manchester Line . It is operated by Northern Rail...
and St Helens Junction railway station
St Helens Junction railway station
St Helens Junction railway station is a railway station serving the town of St Helens, Merseyside, England. It is situated in Sutton, south of St.Helens town centre. The station is on the northern route of the Liverpool to Manchester Line east of Liverpool Lime Street...
located in the Sutton, Merseyside ward.
Facilities
The ward contains a number of facilities including a public house, a miners' club and a Labour club (all of which are located in Clock Face, MerseysideClock Face, Merseyside
Clock Face is an area of St. Helens, Merseyside, England, south of the town centre, situated near Sutton Manor in the district of Sutton, and just north of the M62 motorway. Historically a part of Lancashire, Clock Face forms part of the parish of Bold. It is also a ward within the Metropolitan...
) and a series of mini supermarkets and off-licenses. The nearest chain supermarkets are a Morrisons
Morrisons
Wm Morrison Supermarkets plc is the fourth largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, headquartered in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The company is usually referred to and is branded as Morrisons formerly Morrison's, and it is part of the FTSE 100 Index of companies...
supermarket, Tesco
Tesco
Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...
Metro store and branches of The Co-operative Food
The Co-operative Food
The Co-operative Food, abbreviated sometimes to the Co-op, is a brand devised for the supermarket and convenience store business of the UK's consumers' co-operative movement. It is the name of the largest division of The Co-operative Group, and is used by other independent consumer co-operatives...
which are located in bordering wards. There is also a Post Office Ltd branch located in the Clock Face, Merseyside
Clock Face, Merseyside
Clock Face is an area of St. Helens, Merseyside, England, south of the town centre, situated near Sutton Manor in the district of Sutton, and just north of the M62 motorway. Historically a part of Lancashire, Clock Face forms part of the parish of Bold. It is also a ward within the Metropolitan...
area of the ward.