Recently decommissioned, Kingsnorth Power Station stands on the edge of the Hoo Peninsula – a spur of land in Kent separating the Thames and Medway estuaries. Completed in 1973, Kingsnorth once produced power for the London grid – but now the station stands silent. It was designed as a dual-fired station, capable of creating power from oil or coal, though in reality the economics meant that oil was only used as a startup or secondary source. Our 360 photographs serve to create an historic record of the power station at the very end of its life. A fascinating wander through the Kingsnorth takes you from the Bond-esque control room to the vast turbine hall, through the industrial gothic of the boiler firing floor and the epic views from the boiler house roof.
The power station with its towering chimney is an imposing feature in the industrial seascape as seen from the Oakham Ness jetty. The chimney is one of the UK’s tallest structures at 198 metres (650 ft) tall, taller than the BT Tower, Tower 42 and 30 St Mary Axe, and is due to be demolished soon.
In the Long Reach Jetty 360, you will see the ships Vestenhav and Lord Hinton docked, the latter itself a notable ship, recently commemorated in a collection of Royal Mail stamps honouring historic trading ships. The images are best viewed in fullscreen – we hope you enjoy looking through the images and seeing a slice of British industrial history.