The church in whose backyard there are all those cooling towers is St Edward the Confessor's Church, Brotherton in Yorkshire. In some accounts I've found, it's described as medieval, in others as 19th century. According to the National Archives, it has records going back to 1562. Whichever way you look at it, it's far older than the Ferrybridge B power station which was built in the 1950s and closed in the 1990s.
The photo, taken by Eric de Maré sometime between 1960 and 1980, reminds me of the postcard I bought at Richborough Castle in Kent. It too shows cooling towers in the background, and they too have now been demolished, though there was a very strong campaign to preserve them.
The first picture comes from a postcard set "Postcards of our Past" issued by English Heritage, the second is also published by them and on sale at the Richborough Castle site. Maybe someone in English Heritage has a special fondness for cooling towers. Industrial Heritage in your backyard.
This is a post for Sepia Saturday. A click on the button will take you to the site.
The cooling towers look like giant vases.
ReplyDeleteI quite like cooling towers. The power station at Ironbridge is set to close (I think) and if the towers go I shall miss seeing them when I drive past. Ironbridge has always been a place with industrial heritage so in a way they belong.
ReplyDeletePostcards with scenes that no longer exist are very interesting.
They are strange choices for postcards. As Lisa B, I find very interesting postcards (and pictures) of places that not longer exist.
ReplyDelete