Day 52. The Electricity Generator House

The generator house near the Atherstone weir. The sluice which fed it has recently been  modified for monitoring the water flow.

Today we will look at one more feature relating to the history of Alscot Park. It was the first house in Preston to have an electricity supply, installed in the 1890s.

Thomas Edison had patented the first incandescent light bulb in 1879, and a year later the first electrically-lit house – Cragside in Northumberland –  was engineered. A hydro-plant comprising a dam and sluice directed running water against a series of turbines, which spun a generator and produced electricity.
A similar system using the River Stour was designed for Alscot. The now-disused generator station with a sluice and turbines was installed in the grounds, by the weir on the Atherstone boundary.
This system generated just enough power for electric lighting, along with a full-time job for the estate's electrical engineer. Albert Jackson held this position in 1901; Percy Dove a decade later. Both men had moved to Preston specifically for the job. Albert Jackson met a tragic death in the Stour one night when walking home (see Day 1).

The generator system was used until the 1950s, when mains electricity was installed in both Alscot Park and the rest of the village, and then the pumping station fell derelict.