Fiddler's Ferry: Exhibition captures final years of iconic power station

Photographer Lee Harrison and artist Shaun Smyth were given access inside the station's iconic cooling towers

An exhibition documenting the two-year decommissioning of a landmark power station has gone on display.

Fiddler's Ferry in Cheshire closed in March 2020 after 50 years of operation.

Local artist Shaun Smyth and photographer Lee Harrison described documenting the final years of the iconic site as a "surreal experience".

Mr Smyth said: "This colossal site can be seen for miles around, we wanted to record the place for future generations before it disappears."

Fiddler's Ferry has been an landmark on the Cheshire landscape for 50 years

The Warrington power station was shut as part of the government's target to end coal-fired electricity generation by 2025.

The pair were given access after pitching the idea of documenting the last years of the site to Marc Rudd, Director of Engineering and Innovation, who wanted to capture the significance of the power station to the region as an employer, energy provider and landmark symbol of the north west.

"Fiddler's has been an operational power station since 1971, it has made a huge socio-economic impact on the local and surrounding area," he said.

"The number of people who have worked at, or have friends or family that have worked at Fiddler's, is almost immeasurable."

The exhibition tells the story of the power station and the people who have worked there

The station, which has two groups of four cooling towers, was originally operated by the Central Electricity Generating Board until privatisation, with SSE taking it over in 2005. In June 2019 it was announced it would close.

Earlier this month Peel Natural Resources and Energy (NRE) announced it had acquired the 820-acre site and revealed plans to demolish it to make way for housing.

Mr Smyth, who described inside the cooling towers as "almost like a cathedral", said he was "in absolute awe of the space".

"The station forms part of my early memories of childhood and having been brought up in Runcorn, I am proud to be recording and preserving this iconic site's industrial heritage," he said.

The exhibition runs at Warrington Museum and Art Gallery until 2 October

Mr Harrison, from Stockport, added: "I see Fiddler's Ferry every week and it's impossible not to look left when I drive past.

"This is the very end of an era, a landmark that will never be seen again.

"Hopefully our images will convey the scale, shape and influence on the landscape and community after they are gone that words alone couldn't."

Mr Rudd added: "The body of work produced by Shaun and Lee in the last years of Fiddler's Ferry's operational life, captures, commemorates and celebrates the working lives of the thousands of us who have passed through the gates, to make not only electricity but industrial history and heritage. I know this work will be cherished."

The Fiddler's Ferry: The Cloud Factory exhibition runs at Warrington Museum and Art Gallery until 2 October.