Hartshead Power Station
Encyclopedia
Hartshead Power Station was a coal-fired power station
situated at Heyrod
, Greater Manchester
in North West England
.
, Hyde
, Mossley
and Dukinfield
Transport and Electricity Board. The cooling towers were constructed in the 1940s. Coal
was delivered to the plant at Millbrook
railway sidings on the Micklehurst Line
, situated on the opposite side of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal
. The sidings were built in 1932 and had space to hold up to 130 12-ton wagons. Coal was fed into a hopper underneath the sidings before being transported on an enclosed conveyor belt
which emerged high above the valley to cross the River Tame
and canal before entering the station at a high level. The station was closed on 29 October 1979 with a generating capacity of 64 megawatts. It was demolished during the 1980s, although part of the site is still used as an electrical substation
.
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...
situated at Heyrod
Heyrod
Heyrod is a suburban village in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. It is between Stalybridge and Mossley.In contrast to the rest of Stalybridge, which was anciently a part of Cheshire, Heyrod was formerly a part of Lancashire...
, Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
in North West England
North West England
North West England, informally known as The North West, is one of the nine official regions of England.North West England had a 2006 estimated population of 6,853,201 the third most populated region after London and the South East...
.
History
Preparations for a power station at Heyrod began in 1916 when 26 acres (105,218.4 m²) of land were purchased. The station was opened in 1926 by the StalybridgeStalybridge
Stalybridge is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside in Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 22,568. Historically a part of Cheshire, it is east of Manchester city centre and northwest of Glossop. With the construction of a cotton mill in 1776, Stalybridge became one of...
, Hyde
Hyde, Greater Manchester
Hyde is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2001 census, the town had a population of 31,253. Historically part of Cheshire, it is northeast of Stockport, west of Glossop and east of Manchester....
, Mossley
Mossley
Mossley is a small town and civil parish within the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, in Greater Manchester, England. The town is located in the upper section of the Tame valley in the foothills of the Pennines, northeast of Ashton-under-Lyne and east of Manchester.Mossley has the distinction of...
and Dukinfield
Dukinfield
Dukinfield is a small town within the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies in central Tameside on the south bank of the River Tame, opposite Ashton-under-Lyne, and is east of the city of Manchester...
Transport and Electricity Board. The cooling towers were constructed in the 1940s. Coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
was delivered to the plant at Millbrook
Millbrook, Greater Manchester
Millbrook is a village near Stalybridge, northwest England. It is part of the Stalybridge South ward of Tameside metropolitan borough.-History:...
railway sidings on the Micklehurst Line
Micklehurst Line
The Micklehurst Line was a railway line between Stalybridge, Cheshire, and Diggle junction in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The line, approximately eight miles long, was also sometimes referred to as the Micklehurst Loop and the Stalybridge and Diggle Loop Line.-Construction and opening:The London...
, situated on the opposite side of the Huddersfield Narrow Canal
Huddersfield Narrow Canal
The Huddersfield Narrow Canal is an inland waterway in northern England. It runs just under from Lock 1E at the rear of the University of Huddersfield campus, near Aspley Basin at Huddersfield to the junction with the Ashton Canal at Whitelands Basin in Ashton-under-Lyne...
. The sidings were built in 1932 and had space to hold up to 130 12-ton wagons. Coal was fed into a hopper underneath the sidings before being transported on an enclosed 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...
which emerged high above the valley to cross the River Tame
River Tame, Greater Manchester
The River Tame flows through Greater Manchester, England.-Source:The Tame rises on Denshaw Moor in Greater Manchester, close to the border with West Yorkshire but within the historic West Riding of Yorkshire.-Course:...
and canal before entering the station at a high level. The station was closed on 29 October 1979 with a generating capacity of 64 megawatts. It was demolished during the 1980s, although part of the site is still used as an electrical substation
Electrical substation
A substation is a part of an electrical generation, transmission, and distribution system. Substations transform voltage from high to low, or the reverse, or perform any of several other important functions...
.
External links
- 28DL - photographs of the power station past and present