Wallsend, Neptune Bank Power Station

HER Number:
5106

District:
N Tyneside

Site Name:
Wallsend, Neptune Bank Power Station

Place:
Wallsend

Map Sheet:
NZ26NE

Class:
Industrial

Site Type: Broad:
Electricity Production Site

Site Type: Specific:
Power Station

General Period:
Modern

Specific Period:
C20

Form of Evidence:
Extant Building

Description:
Generating Hall and possibly boiler house adjacent. The whole structure now embedded in later buildings of TSL. The main hall now used as a warehouse. It is brick built with a corrugated sheet curtain gable at east end. The west end has a brick corbelled decorative parapet with sandstone capping. The peak of the gables is stepped to finish the roof ridge louvres and roof lights. The roof is slated. The west gable is pierced by three round-topped windows at switch gallery level (first floor). Interior retains original white tiling and signs of wall fittings. Otherwise completely stripped for reuse. First General Power Station for bulk electricity in the UK. Designed by Merz and McClellan for Walker and Wallsend Union Gas Co. Taken over by NESCO to replace Pandon Station (lighting only). Charles Merz, engineer, chose reciprocating engines rather than the new turbines, reflecting slowness of customers to accept reliability of the new technology. Within a year, plans to enlarge station and install turbines. Included a 1500kW 3-phase turbine set for public supply. Engine house survives within Thermal Syndicate Complex on Neptune Bank. Opened in 1901, designed by Charles Merz and William McLellan. Charles Merz was the son of Theodore Merz, one of the directors of NESCO, who pioneered the idea of a central power station supplying current for industry on an industrial scale. The Neptune bank Power Station took over from Pandon Dene (HER 5152). The engine house survives within the Thermal Syndicate Complex on Neptune Bank. Britain's first supplier of three phase electricity for industry. Overtaken by Carville Power Station (HER 1912) in 1903.

Easting:
297

Northing:
656

Grid Reference:
NZ297656

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 5106 >> The Electrician, June, July, August, 1901, Newcastle Library Local Studies English Heritage, Monuments Protection Program, Site Assessment I. Ayris & S.M. Linsley, 1994, A Guide to the Industrial Archaeology of Tyne and Wear, p 70