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Monument details

HER Number:TQ 57 NE 84
Type of record:Monument
Name:Littlebrook Power Station, Dartford

Summary

Oil-fired electricity generating power stations

Grid Reference:TQ 560 764
Map Sheet:TQ57NE
Parish:STONE, DARTFORD, KENT

Monument Types

Full description

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Littlebrook Power Station. Littlebrook A 1935-8. Steel frame with concrete walls on T plan with N-S turbine hall and E-W boilerhouse projecting and ancilliary buildings at N end of turbine hall. Boilerhouse and chimney demolished, turbine hall upper section reclad. Littlebrook B built by 1950 immediately to the S, similar but with boilerhouses and turbibe halls parallel. Chimney demolished. Littlebrook C built 1950-54, similar style and layout to B but twice the size. Boilerhouse now lowered and two chimneys demolished. Littlebrook D built 1974-83. Unlike the others it is oil fired. Single tall boilerhouse block on the river side fronted by single chimney, lower turbine hall behind. To the east is a small gas-turbine station to supply emergency back-up, and to the S a hydgrogen generation plant (1), additional reference (2), for site photographs see (3-11).

Littlebrook Power Station A - D. A, B & C were built end to end on a north south axis on the eastern half of the site. They are nolonger used for electricity generating and have been partly demolished. D is a larger modern oil-fired station.

A was built 1935 -38, B c.1950, C 1950 - 1954 and D 1974- 1983.(12)

English Heritage decided not to designate the power station as a listed building in 2015. The report contains much detail about the history and development of the site (13)

In 2018, an historic building investigation of the redundant Littlebrook Power Station was completed. The archaeological survey was required to provide a basic record of the power station in advance of its demolition to enable the phased redevelopment of the site as a storage and distribution facility. (15)


<1> Not applicable, SMR Kent uncatalogued index entry, RCHME Power Stations of the Lower Thames (1995, Guillery and Williams) (Miscellaneous Material). SKE6440.

<2> RCHME, 1994, The Lower Thames in 1994, a photographic survey from the river Blackwell to Tilbury and Greenwich to Gravesend, Neg. AA94/3404 (Photograph). SWX9333.

<3> 1946, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9641.

<4> 1946, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX9642.

<5> 1944, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10027.

<6> 1944, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10028.

<7> 1944, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10032.

<8> 1944, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10039.

<9> 1944, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10041.

<10> 1944, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10053.

<11> 1944, Photograph (Photograph (Print)). SWX10062.

<12> Royal Commission on the Historic Monuments in England, 1995, Power Stations Of The Lower Thames (Unpublished document). SWX6965.

<13> English Heritage, 2015, NotificationReport_fca4f7d5-8147-4907-8387-d730685739f7 (Unpublished document). SKE30751.

<14> Anon, 1994, National Power Archaeological Study: Littlebrook Power Station (Unpublished document). SKE54671.

<15> University of Salford, Manchester, 2018, Historic Building Investigation: Littlebrook Power Station, Rennie Drive, Dartford, Kent (Unpublished document). SKE55268.

Sources and further reading

Cross-ref. Source description
<1>Miscellaneous Material: Not applicable. SMR Kent uncatalogued index entry. RCHME Power Stations of the Lower Thames (1995, Guillery and Williams).
<2>Photograph: RCHME. 1994. The Lower Thames in 1994, a photographic survey from the river Blackwell to Tilbury and Greenwich to Gravesend. various. Neg. AA94/3404.
<3>Photograph (Print): 1946. Photograph. 1102. print.
<4>Photograph (Print): 1946. Photograph. 1105. print.
<5>Photograph (Print): 1944. Photograph. 3010. print.
<6>Photograph (Print): 1944. Photograph. 3008. print.
<7>Photograph (Print): 1944. Photograph. 4010. print.
<8>Photograph (Print): 1944. Photograph. 3143. print.
<9>Photograph (Print): 1944. Photograph. 3150. print.
<10>Photograph (Print): 1944. Photograph. 3266. print.
<11>Photograph (Print): 1944. Photograph. 4093. print.
<12>Unpublished document: Royal Commission on the Historic Monuments in England. 1995. Power Stations Of The Lower Thames.
<13>Unpublished document: English Heritage. 2015. NotificationReport_fca4f7d5-8147-4907-8387-d730685739f7.
<14>Unpublished document: Anon. 1994. National Power Archaeological Study: Littlebrook Power Station.
<15>Unpublished document: University of Salford, Manchester. 2018. Historic Building Investigation: Littlebrook Power Station, Rennie Drive, Dartford, Kent.