Coventry Power Station

Thanks Kaga, that's interesting about the Coventry power station (before my time), but regarding the Longford power station, I came across this set of photographs which show more WW2 views. Scroll about halfway down the webpage to the power station views.

A much better 1929 view of those cooling towers

Earlsdon Kid, I have looked many times at those photo's, reminds me of my childhood. I think I have posted before, but the shot from the Old Crown pub is exactly the line of the bomb run - the first one just left of the photographer, the next in the field, the third just by the side of the right hand tower, the fourth smack on the canal at Sutton Stop. I am now the only witness to the draining of the canal from Sutton Stop to Tusses Bridge. The large gun site in the fields below watched in horror as the waters came up and by the sandbag emplacement.

Excellent view of the towers, Neil, and thanks for your recollections, Kaga, it keeps me pouring over maps of the area to bring reality to the comments.

I started work at the EMEB in 1963 and worked there for 9 years. For several years the offices were at the top of the street in what were the Daimler offices, now Harp Place which I think was the only building left after the blitz, but the canteen and the stores were in the large building down the other end of Sandy Lane, most of which I believe still contained the generators. For the last couple of years we moved from the Daimler building to offices in what was then called the works at the other end. The large building had a lot of it converted to offices, I was in an office opposite. I loved my job there and I used to find the old buildings fascinating then. As you say all the buildings at both ends of the street have been turned into flats.

I've just been looking through Robs updated pics. This one just shows how visible those towers were even from Broadgate!

NeilsYard, I would think smelly, choking smoke, so they got rid of them. I believe they were fed by coal boat, whereas the Longford power station was never fed by boats but by train, another reason why the Bishop Street Basin went derelict.

Rob, Neil, The Gas Works built in the 19th century had to be beside the canal for coal supply. It had its own wharf to take the supply of coal by the boat companies, but the boats lost the contract to the railways, then a little while later the rail sold back the contract to the boats, and a few years after the 1927 strikes closed the Wyken pits. At the same time health and safety and a number of other reasons caused that Gas Works to close and move. The Gas Works gave off a strong smell of creosote/tar fumes. The Broadgate photo above, I would say about 1920/5, and on the way to the closure of those works. This is what I believe I heard from family chit-chat when small.

Hawkesbury/Longford Power Station were never ever fed by the canal system. The coal fields of Hawkesbury and Wyken, coal was transported from the pits to destinations by canal horse drawn boats, but not to the power station. The power station, built in 1927/8, had a railway line running from those pits to Foleshill and beyond by loop line. They cut the rail line at Aldermans Green Road, removed the first part. As they built the power station, so they built a branch line from the existing line, ran it round the power station, built more sidings, conveyor belts ran the coal over the canal and stored in fields. Fed the coal by rail shunting the wagons all the way round the power station.

Manor House This is long after the war. The Oxford Canal runs left to right across the whole picture, behind the coal slack and before the buildings. The corner of the house on the right was the old dance hall during the war. Now here clearly you can see the path of a stick of bombs dropped. This is a t-junction roadway. The first bomb landed, just flattening a house, so close to the t-junction and to the left of the bus; the second in the coalfield; the third behind the corner of the house and the end tower, missing the canal by inches; the fourth out of sight on the far right, but smack on Sutton Stop and the end of the Oxford Canal, draining the canal from the far right to the far left of your picture. The clearest picture of a bomb run in any I have ever seen.

Kaga, The photograph dates from 1959 or after because the light coloured car is either an Austin A55 or a Morris Oxford of a type that were built between 1959 and 1961. It looks in good shape so I would guess that the photograph is from around that time.

Not Local, This photo is on Earlsdon Kid's post #17 above, of Longford and the power station. Brilliant for me, says it's the 60's, but thanks. Hope you're all keeping well.

NeilsYard Your post and picture on #19, I wonder, the gas works had been transferred to Foleshill in 1909, now where the Ricoh site is I believe. And had its own sidings and coal supply.