A Monster Revived
June 2021
In its full glory... with mysterious smoke from one of the chimneys
Photo © Jo Hackett
Towering above...
Photo © Jo Hackett
Having been brought up opposite the huge Battersea Power Station on the other side of the Thames as a child, I was intrigued to see it in its new incarnation.
In the area around it within the railway arches and where huge gasometers once loomed, are now apartments, shops, restaurants, cafes and entertainment centres. It felt weird to enter this once forbidden zone, which I could only ever see from a distance.
The Power Station itself towered high above. You feel tiny beside it. Apparently, it was once the largest building in Europe. It's now being converted largely into apartments, and there will soon be a glass elevator which will carry people up one of the massive chimney stacks to take in an incredible view from the top. Long before the Pink Floyd pig was attached to those stacks, smoke belched out, giving us electricity, but polluting us all with its breath. As a child I watched that massive monster creating dark clouds in the sky.
At night, I'd listen to the barges arrive, full of coal destined for the massive furnace at the heart of the monster. They'd hoot and turn to stop off at the jetty. Jo and I walked on to the jetty and saw similar boats arrive, this time full of building materials, but they still turned at the same point, giving their familiar hoot... Across the river was the block of flats where I once lived. It felt like seeing everything from the other side of the looking glass.
I'm glad that in these changing times we're celebrating that iconic part of our heritage. That great beast has a life of its own and will always serve as a monumental reminder of that strange, dark world gone by...
Looking across the Thames to the childhood home in Churchill Gardens
Photo © Jo Hackett
Barges turn and head for the Power Station
Photo © Jo Hackett
