Introduction
Whilst searching around a while back for places around Scotland, I came across the Barony A-frame on Google Maps, I then noticed a large derelict building in the trees. After doing some research, I discovered that this was an old power station, or part thereof. The last report on here, unless I’m mistaken, was in 2016 so I thought it’s worth posting an update. Visited with @JakeV50 on our recent Scotland trip.
Information & History
Barony Colliery opened in 1906 and extracted coal from the Ayrshire village of Auchinleck from two shafts. A third shaft was sunk in 1937 which was the deepest in Scotland. In 1948, the colliery employed around 1260 people and produced 1520 tons of coal a day. In November 1962, the No.2 shaft collapsed resulting in four fatalities.
Between 1947 and 1969 around 60,000 jobs were lost in the Scottish coal industry due to widespread closures, Barony was also under threat of closure around this time but was saved thanks to a community campaign and political intervention. Shaft No.4 was sunk in the mid-sixties and the colliery remained open until 1989 when it closed due to profit losses as a result of understaffing and geological difficulties.
Barony was one of just two collieries in Scotland to have its own power station. It generated electricity through the process of incineration by burning slurry from the coal-washing process. The power station itself opened in 1953 and closed in 1982, seven years before the closure of the colliery. Most of the power station was demolished and the building that remains has been well stripped. The station also had a sister site called Methil Power Station and was built to a similar specification, this opened in 1965 and also used coal slurry from a local coalfield.
The Explore
We parked up at the A-frame and walked through the trees to the power station building which was a simple walk in. We then had a look round the A-frame but didn’t spend too long there due to heavy rain. We also walked along the road where we saw a little pump house to the side of the road, it was gutted but looked like there could have been a small ram pump in there looking at the remains of the fittings.
Photos
The main draw for me was the lovely skylight on the top floor. If it wasn't for that I probably wouldn't have bothered:
The building is well and truly stripped but the skylights made for some excellent lighting:
Heading back down to the ground floor. Nice to see the old industrial light fixtures:
It's nice how they have preserved the A-frame and turned it into a public space. @Webbs0710 got some fab drone shots of it a while back in this thread.
I associate this section of the forum with big sprawling power stations with old turbines, boilers and all sorts of goodies. Unfortunately, this is nowhere near as exciting as those, if it needs to be moved to the general 'Industrial' section, feel free.
Thanks for looking!
Whilst searching around a while back for places around Scotland, I came across the Barony A-frame on Google Maps, I then noticed a large derelict building in the trees. After doing some research, I discovered that this was an old power station, or part thereof. The last report on here, unless I’m mistaken, was in 2016 so I thought it’s worth posting an update. Visited with @JakeV50 on our recent Scotland trip.
Information & History
Barony Colliery opened in 1906 and extracted coal from the Ayrshire village of Auchinleck from two shafts. A third shaft was sunk in 1937 which was the deepest in Scotland. In 1948, the colliery employed around 1260 people and produced 1520 tons of coal a day. In November 1962, the No.2 shaft collapsed resulting in four fatalities.
Between 1947 and 1969 around 60,000 jobs were lost in the Scottish coal industry due to widespread closures, Barony was also under threat of closure around this time but was saved thanks to a community campaign and political intervention. Shaft No.4 was sunk in the mid-sixties and the colliery remained open until 1989 when it closed due to profit losses as a result of understaffing and geological difficulties.
Barony was one of just two collieries in Scotland to have its own power station. It generated electricity through the process of incineration by burning slurry from the coal-washing process. The power station itself opened in 1953 and closed in 1982, seven years before the closure of the colliery. Most of the power station was demolished and the building that remains has been well stripped. The station also had a sister site called Methil Power Station and was built to a similar specification, this opened in 1965 and also used coal slurry from a local coalfield.
The Explore
We parked up at the A-frame and walked through the trees to the power station building which was a simple walk in. We then had a look round the A-frame but didn’t spend too long there due to heavy rain. We also walked along the road where we saw a little pump house to the side of the road, it was gutted but looked like there could have been a small ram pump in there looking at the remains of the fittings.
Photos
The main draw for me was the lovely skylight on the top floor. If it wasn't for that I probably wouldn't have bothered:
The building is well and truly stripped but the skylights made for some excellent lighting:
Heading back down to the ground floor. Nice to see the old industrial light fixtures:
It's nice how they have preserved the A-frame and turned it into a public space. @Webbs0710 got some fab drone shots of it a while back in this thread.
I associate this section of the forum with big sprawling power stations with old turbines, boilers and all sorts of goodies. Unfortunately, this is nowhere near as exciting as those, if it needs to be moved to the general 'Industrial' section, feel free.
Thanks for looking!
