Photographic and written record of power station buildings accompanied by archival research. Ratcliffe on Soar was one of 10 coal-fired power stations based around the 500MW turbo-generator set built by the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) during the 1960s; released for construction in 1963, the plant was completed in 1967 and first commissioned in 1968. Together with Cottam and West Burton in Bassetlaw District, it is one of three such 'super-stations' of 2,000MW capacity within the lower Trent Valley. In response to increasing awareness and concern regarding anthropogenic climate change, however, government policy has shifted away from fossil fuels, and the 1960s coal-fired stations have been sequentially shut down and decommissioned, with demolition their ultimate fate. Ratcliffe-on-Soar was the final station to close, ceasing generation at the end of September 2024 when, for the first time since the opening of Holborn Junction power station (the Edison Electric Light Station) in London in 1882, the UK has no coal-fired capacity, marking the end of a 142-year long era in the history of national electricity generation. The power satation is located on the south bank of the River Trent in south-west Nottinghamshire, close to its confluence with the Soar, hard on the border with Derbyshire to the north-west (with which the Trent here forms the county boundary) and with Leicestershire to the south-west (the county boundary formed by the Soar). It lies immediately north-east of the village of Ratcliffe on Soar and 1km south-west of Thrumpton, lying c.12km south-west of the county town of Nottingham. It is located within the civil parish of Ratcliffe on Soar and the administrative district of Rushcliffe. The power station comprises a standard grouping of structures based around the generating core of boiler house, turbine hall with attached control room, and precipitator block, served by a single chimney to the north and a massive, enclosed 400kV switch-house located axially to the south. A total of eight natural-draught cooling towers are arranged in a single field to the west of the generation buildings, while an extensive coaling plant, associated stock area and enclosing rail loop are sited to the east. All constituent buildings of the plant are described to a level commensurate with a 'Level 2' record as defined by Historic England, cross-referenced to a comprehensive photographic record and illustrated with copies of original design drawings/diagrams and early photographs as appropriate. Further, a review of the readily available archival sources at the National Archives, the Nottinghamshire Archives and on-site at the power station itself, allowed for a context, both historical and technical, to be established in which to interpret the form and function of the site and its component parts. The station as a whole is considered within its landscape setting, and its 'Heritage Values' are assessed in evidential, historical, aesthetic and communal terms, in line with Historic England guidelines. The programme of historic building recording allowed for a detailed study and record of the buildings, their construction, operation and general developmental history to be made, so far as possible from a non-intrusive survey, in accordance with current Historic England guidance. Together with similar studies at a number of contemporary power station sites, it forms part of a significant 'preservation by record' of an important class of industrial heritage asset.
Ric Tyler (Mon,) studied this question.