Earl Street Power Station
Inception
During early 1882, a group of local tradesmen had formed an electric light committe. An application was subsequently made to the Hastings Urban Sanitary Authority for permission to build the Earl Street Power Station on the 27th May 1882.[1] This was to provide light for the rapidly growing town.
There is reference to two power generating plants; the main one at Earl Street and a subsidiary one at Waterworks Road, the latter being closed down circa 1900[2].
Plant
The original plant generated a potentially lethal 2,000V supply from Brush dynamos shaft driven by underfired locomotive type boilers. The supply to customers' premises was also 2,000V so lighting was by incandescent lamps connected in series. In August 1882 the town council agreed to a 12 month experiment for lighting several local streets including the sea front. By 5 October 1882 The Hastings and St. Leonards Advertiser reported that "The electric light works is in active operation and within the next few weeks it is probable that churches and private establishments will be lit.”
The chimney of the power station, reaching a height of some 156 feet, contained over 200,000 bricks and foundations 28 feet deep. It was estimated by Mr J. C. Burrell in making a presentation at Mount Pleasant Schools to weigh 1,245 tons in total.[3]
Expansion
Demand grew rapidly and as a result, expansion of the power generating capacity of the Earl Street site took place over the next two decades. From the Electrical Times; “... the space is so cramped that Mr . Ferguson must have had need of all his ingenuity to accommodate cooling towers, coal store, and pumps for the present capacity . The coal stores and the cooling ponds and pumps are on the roof and the steel columns carrying them had to have very special footings quite independent of the walls, which are a mere filling-in and do not take the weight."
Closure
The power station was closed circa 1925 and much of the generating plant was transferred to new, purpose built buildings at Broomgrove Power Station
Images
- Images
From-the-west-hill-1912.
Devonshire-Road-1912-Earl-Street-Power-station-chimney-dominates-the-sky-line-above-the-houses.
Hastings Railway Station c1926
References & Notes
- ↑ Warburton, Raymond (2019): A history of the development of the steam boiler, with particular reference to its use in the electricity supply industry. figshare. Thesis.
- ↑ Hastings & St Leonards Observer 7 Jul 1900 pg. 6
- ↑ Hastings & St Leonards Observer 21 December 1907 pg. 4
