Electric light began to be used in the 1880s. As a result, the first power station opened in Preston in 1891 and by 1897 it had 450 customers. The central area of Preston was covered including Fishergate, Friargate and Church Street. The first plant was on Corporation Street. Later, a larger plant was built off Crown Street.

The Crown Street plant continued in operation until 1925, when the Ribble Power Station was built.

Electric light

Before electricity there was gas; the first gas street lights were used in London, by 1813. After experiments with arc lamps in 1802, the first commercially available electric light bulb was made by Thomas Edison in 1880. This bulb used a carbonised bamboo filament inside an evacuated glass bulb. The lamp had a life of 1,200 hours.

One of the biggest problems with early electric lighting was where to get the power from. As a result the first house in Britain that was lit by light bulbs had its own hydro electric power station. That was at Cragside in Northumberland. Preston also played its part in electric lamp manufacture.

The Preston lamp factory

In 1900, English Electric, based in Strand Road, were making heavy electrical equipment, such as motors, transformers and trams. In 1902 Dick, Kerr and Co took over the site. 

Because of the vibration, specially reinforced bulbs had to be used for trams. However, Dick, Kerr and Co still went through a lot of bulbs. Consequently, a lamp factory was built at the Strand Road site in 1911, specifically to make light bulbs. The lamp brand was known as the ‘Britannia’. 

By the 1960s English Electric were making many types of speciality bulbs in Preston, such as mercury, xenon and neon. Unfortunately, bulb production had ended by 1969.

The Ribble Power Station

By the 1920s Preston needed more power, and in 1925, the Penwortham or Ribble Power Station opened. The station was built by Preston Corporation, to replace older stations in the town. A ‘B’ station was built between 1943 and 1947, to increase capacity. The station was much larger than previous plants and had a large turbine hall. The location was chosen to be near Preston Docks, so that large amounts of coal could be shipped in. Additionally, water was needed for the boilers and for cooling.

The National Grid

Until 1935 most power generation was local and the National Grid did not exist. The first power grid system in the world began in Britain. This allowed power to be transmitted around the UK; gradually power plants in and near cities went out of service. The Ribble Power Station was demolished in 1976.

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