Staythorpe A

Staythorpe `A’ was a magnificent looking brick built 360 MW Power Station that sat on the west bank of the River Trent three miles south of Newark.

Photo by R Botterel



Building was authorised in 1946 by the Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire Electric Power Company. They owned and ran Spondon `A’ Power Station and Staythorpe `A’ was just a bigger & better laid out version of Spondon `A’. 

The whole design of Staythorpe `A’ was pre-war and obsolete at the time of building. But due to the rapidly increasing demand for electricity after the war it was a considered a reliable option to increase UK generation capacity by 360MW. Even though obsolete and expensive to  run, Staythorpe `A’ proved to be a reliable and flexible source of generation until it finally closed in 1983.

As a visitor you couldn’t help but be impressed by the long turbine hall with it’s 6 x 60MW BTH Turbines installed end to end. The three separate boiler houses each had an individual octagonal brick built chimney. It was like a giant castle stuffed full of ancient machinery. The attention to detail, quality of building and sheer size of the place was amazing with no expense spared.

 There were 6 X Babcock and Wilcox chain grate boilers with spreader stokers in Boiler Houses 1 & 2 plus just four boilers in Boiler House 3. During commissioning it was discovered that enough steam was generated by the 14 boilers to achieve the required load.

 The ownership of Staythorpe `A’ was transferred from the Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire Electric Power Company to the British Electricity Authority in 1948 when UK electricity supply was nationalised. This then became the Central Electricity Authority in 1955 and then finally the Central Electricity Generating Board in 1958.
 
The first of the six British Thomson-Houston generators was commissioned in March 1950 and the others followed on until the Station was fully commissioned in August 1956. The cooling water for the station was taken from the river Trent and returned further downstream to the station. There was no requirement for cooling towers.

When it was coming to the end of its life Newark Council talked about putting a
preservation order on the building but due to the remote location and deterioration of
the brickwork it never happened.
Staythorpe A - nearing completion with the River Trent in the foreground
Staythorpe A&B map
Staythorpe A's position in the East Midlands
Staythorpe A Information