Agecroft A Primary Substation, England

Agecroft A Primary Substation was once part of a power station. It is located in eastern Manchester. Very little remains of this once impressive site. Almost everything was demolished when the site closed in 1993.

Only a small cluster of buildings remain. These stand on the site that was once Agecroft A Power Station. Most noteworthy of which is noted as “transformer bay” on site plans. It sat in between the turbine house and the battery room/switch house. All the interesting features and fixtures have been stripped out of these buildings.

This building listed as a “transformer bay”, is similarly empty. However, the upper floor is the most interesting. This room is sometimes called “Agecroft A Primary Substation”. Green vintage control panels line sides of the room. Peppered with numerous dials, switches, and gauges.

History of Agecroft Power Station

Agecroft was once a coal-fired power station. There were three power station sites; A, B and C. These were located on the western bank of the River Irwell at Pendlebury.

Agecroft A Power Station opened on 23rd September 1925. The Salford Corporation Electricity Department operated the site. Subsequently, in the 1960s, sites B and C were added. These were constructed and opened in tandem in 1962.

Agecroft A had a total production capacity of 57,500 kilowatts. Conversely, the more modern B and C power stations generated an impressive 358 megawatts.

Agecroft Colliery supplied the coal to this power station. In the early years of operation, supply was via steam train. Subsequently, a huge conveyor belt was built. This transferred coal from colliery to the power station, directly.

Closure and demolition

Agecroft Colliery closed March 1991. In addition to this, closure of the powerplant was announced soon after. Most of the buildings were demolished in 1993 and 1994. The cooling towers were brought down on 8th May 1994. A prison, HM Prison Forest Bank, was built on the site in 2000.

The control panels photographed here were stripped out in January 2020. Like the few adjacent buildings that remain, this room is now bare. Obviously there are some plans afoot for these last remnants of Agecroft Power Station.