Building record 14304 - Fiddler’s Ferry Power Station

<1> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Land Line and Master Map Vector Maps, 11/07/2018 (Maps and Plans). SCH4491.

<2> Historic England, 2015-, Notification Report of Decision not to Designate, Martin D, 25/01/2017 (Written Communication). SCH7825.

Fiddler’s Ferry Power Station is a coal-fired power station built in 1967-71 to the design of the consultant architect Gordon Graham (Architects’ Design Group). It was closely modelled on the earlier West Burton Power Station (1961-67) and is, to a large extent, based on standard designs.

<3> Clarke, J, 2013, 'High Merit': Existing English Post-war Coal and Oil-fired Power Stations in Context, p.8, 13 & 26 (Report). SCH8461.

A coal fired power station with an output of 2000 MW from four 500 MW units.

‘The collapse in high winds on 1 November 1965 of three of Ferrybridge 'C's eight cooling towers resulted in a number of recommendations and minor changes in [cooling tower] design…At Ferrybridge, for example, the upper half of one of the towers was completed with the 127mm thick shell of the original design, but with two layers of reinforcement and with the upper rim increased in size…In January 1984 the aforementioned Fiddlers Ferry tower collapsed in gusts of wind exceeding 80 mph.’

<4> Arcadis (Warrington), 2022, Fiddlers Ferry Employment Land Phase 1: Cultural Heritage Baseline Study, R4473 (Client Report). SCH9608.

<5> Arcadis, 2021, Historic Building Record: Fiddler's Ferry Power Station, R4624 (Client Report). SCH9278.

A building survey, including a photographic record, was undertaken in 2021 for Fiddler’s Ferry Power Station in advance of demolition and re-development of the site. Fiddler’s Ferry Power Station has had an impact on the physical Cheshire landscape but also the human geography, as a workplace and community, including public outreach initiatives. The interaction of the physical buildings with the local communities is therefore discussed, as an important part of the station’s landscape impact.

The power station was commissioned in 1962, becoming operational in 1971 before full commission in 1973. The station was originally under the ownership of the public body, the Central Electricity Board, before being privatised in 1990. A series of additions to the power station occurred between 2006 and 2008, for financial and environmental gain, including the introduction of the Flue Gas Desulphurisation Plant, Gypsum Storage and Ash Processing Plant.

The plant comprises 8 cooling towers either side of the main boiler and turbine halls, with central chimney and national grid sub-station. A range of support and administrative buildings are located predominantly on the northern and eastern side of the site. Further infrastructure includes a coal storage area with associated railway which feeds into the former Warrington to Garston railway. Also four lagoons and an ash storage area in the southern part of the site. For operation purposes, the station was located on the banks of the River Mersey which allows for water from a river pump house 1.5 miles upstream of the station to be pumped into a settling lagoon, before entering the station’s water system.

The northern part of the site was originally agricultural common land granted to Norton Priory, with the southern part, occupied by the lagoons, historically part of Cuerdley salt marshes. The name 'Fiddler's Ferry', marked on the 1829 Hennet Map, comes from the ancient crossing of the Mersey with the first written record dating to 1160. 'Fidler' was a corruption of the landowner's name at the time - 'Adam le Vieleur' seen as violer - a player of the viol of the fiddle. The Ferry Tavern, located on the banks of the Mersey, opened in 1762, and it is the tavern after which the power station is named. The area became increasingly more industrialised from the late nineteenth century onwards.

The Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) was created under the 1957 Electricity Act, the aim of which was to develop a system of electricity supply. Fiddler's Ferry is one of 13 power stations which were built in the 1960s. The station was strategically placed close to an area of high demand and was built to the same design as West Burton power station, located on the banks of the Mersey.