Remains of Prince of Wales Power Station
The Prince of Wales Power Station in Rotherham was located on Rawmarsh Road and was opened by the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VIII). It was coal-fired and operated between 28/05/1923 and 30/10/1978 and had an operating capacity of 56 megawatts. Being located at the side of the canal, I’m sure coal would have arrived via this waterway.
The cooling towers for this power station were a landmark in Rotherham for many years. They must have been long gone before my living memory because I can never remember seeing the towers although my parents could remember them well. Rawmarsh Road was a main route, especially for buses into Rotherham and so the towers and the station would have been a regular sight for visitors of the town.
I remember reading in an old edition of the Rotherham Advertiser that once the power station had been decommissioned, a few proposals for its further use were put forward, one of these being to put a skating ring into one of the towers. All of the proposals must have failed for one reason or another as the vast majority of the site was cleared and now homes a variety of industrial units.
Prince of Wales Power Station, Rotherham
My second great uncle, Francis Thomas Pinder, who qualified as an Electrical Engineer worked at the power station upon its opening for a good number of years. I’m sure his brother (my great grandfather, Matthew Henry Pinder) who was the Manager of the nearby Water Works would have encouraged his application to the Rotherham Corporation.
Nothing remains of the power station today except for one building which I imagine by the looks of it operated as the power station’s Control Centre, although this is only my opinion.
This post was originally published on Mollekin Portalite on 01/05/2011.
WEEK 42 
January 2, 2017 at 03:29
My grandfather also worked at this power station. He died in 1967,his name was Mr Binney. The cooling towers were sold for a pound for the pair because of the cost of demolishing them. I can remember them been taken down bit by bit so,s not to damage the surrounding buildings.Im quite sure they was taken down in either 1973 or 74. When they had gone and the work men had finished work on the site , we went to have a look.A hole appeared in the ground were they once stood, leading to a large underground chamber full of water.We got a lorry tyre and went underneath floating around. The police arrived and took us home.
January 3, 2017 at 19:55
I remember somebody telling me about that underground chamber, situated roughly where Underwoods Meats are now. It was described to me as being like a huge cave. It was caused, I believe, by the gases cooling etc in the towers. I think it was an unexpected side effect.