Sun sets on an industrial icon

THE sun sets on the Fiddler’s Ferry Power Station, near Warrington on a December evening.
Vapour clouds from the eight giant cooling towers and fumes from the chimney stack help create a dramatic, industrial scene alongside the Mersey between Warrington and Widnes.
Built in the 1960s after a lengthy battle to block the plans, Fiddler’s Ferry was originally built and operated by the Central Electricity Generating Board. It is a 1989MW coal fired electricity generating station now operated by Scottish and Southern Energy plc. Previous owners include Powergen, Edison Mission Energy and AEP Energy Services.
Scottish and Southern acquired it for £136 million in 2004.
Fiddlers Ferry has an FGD (Flue Gas Desulphurisation) plant, to significantly reducing the emissions of sulphur oxides, one of the principal causes of acid rain. It also burns biofuels together with coal.
Coal is brought to the plant by rail from Liverpool Docks.
The plant takes its name from the Fiddler’s Ferry area of Cuerdley – although some early maps and, indeed, the old railway station which existed there before the plant was built, spell “Fidler” with one “d”.
The nearby Ferry Inn perches on the edge of the Mersey where, in Cromwellian times, there was once a ferry. Cannon balls and other relics of the Civil War have been found nearby.
Also nearby is the Fiddler’s Ferry Yacht Haven.