Danger Of Death - Corby's Substation Heritage

Corby Town Centre Electricity Substation (above & below), a design classic?

Anyone who's spent time exploring the various housing developments, retail precincts, and industrial nooks and crannies of Corby New Town, will know that much of what we might regard as being 'new' about the town is now, in fact, getting on a bit! It might be more accurate to describe Corby as a Vintage Town given that much of its fabric is now well over 50 years old.

The lesser known back side of the Town Centre Substation.

So what do we mean by the term Vintage in the context of this post? When does a 'New' town become a 'Vintage' town? Well we might define 'Vintage' as 'those things we remember from our youth, but which have only recently come back into fashion'...

Take the Scandinavian influenced furnishings of the 60's and 70's for example. All polished Teak and black leatherette, much derided by those of us with shiny new properties to furnish in the fashionable 'Flatpack' style of the 80's and 90's. 'Mid-Century' is of course thoroughly back in fashion, the charity shop bargains of the late 20th century now regarded as stylish design classics that couldn't be more desirable, and with fashionable prices to match. It's these everyday things from our near-past, largely forgotten or ignored in the white heat of the 'New', that almost inevitably come back into focus in time, sometimes even acquiring the rose-tinted cachet of Vintage status.

Gainsborough Road No.1 - Widely regarded as Corby's most attractive Substation

Naturally, whenever our largely under-appreciated near-past comes back under the spotlight, perhaps even achieving 'on-trend' status, it soon becomes clear just how much of it has been lost. The rarity value of serious neglect is of course a crucial aspect of what we come to regard as Vintage, be it clothing, toys, vinyl records or indeed a towns unique architectural heritage. The more of its rusting and decayed fixtures and fittings we lose to neglect, the higher their value soars, and Corby Town is no exception in this regard. Even a cursory glance will show how much of the Civic and Industrial architecture of the mid-century is either chronically neglected or has sadly gone for good, so what does survive should certainly be cherished.

This includes the everyday infrastructure of Electricity Substations, common enough yet so often overlooked in favour of more flamboyant street furniture, such as Postboxes and Signposts. Of course much of what we see now may appear shabby, unkempt and unattractive, following many years of neglect. Bessemer Grove Substation for example (left) appears to be redundant now, replaced by a modern steel structure, but contrast the attractive detail of the original doorway with the dull, utterly 'designless' functionality of its modern replacement, an example of which can be seen for the Corby Cube (below). Presumably housing it in an attractive matching 'mini-cube' was beyond the imagination and/or budget of the National Grid! Will anyone regard this as 'Vintage' one day? I think not.

So here we have a handful of Corby’s most interesting, sometimes even attractive Electricity Substations. Do keep an eye out for these and other ‘vintage’ structures when out and about in the town, it's likely that many of them won’t be around forever and we'll surely miss them when they're gone.

I apologise if I’ve missed out your own favourite Substation, do let me know if you'd like it to be included in a potential Part II of this fascinating and under-appreciated subject…

Littlewoods Corby Substation - In the shadow of the former Strathclyde Hotel, the former Littlewoods Store lies empty, future unknown.

Earlstrees - Attractive urban decay amongst the tidy brickwork and steel of the Earlstrees Industrial Estate (OS Benchmark bottom right)

Corby's vast expanse of Industry and Retail Parks are happy hunting grounds for the kind of utilitarian infrastructure shown here. Outside of the town centre and areas of housing no attempt has been made to blend them in with their surroundings, this is industrial architecture at its most basic and functional, and yet even these have their own sturdy charm...

Many of these buildings on the Earlstrees Industrial Estate provided a useful surface for the Ordnance Survey, and are of particular interest to those of us who look for Benchmarks, used until relatively recently as datum points for the purpose of surveying and map making. I imagine structures like the one shown here for Earlstrees EASP, (OS Benchmark bottom-right), (above) were chosen in preference to the nearby factories and warehouses as being more likely to survive the repurposing and rebuilding of industrial and commercial units. Unfortunately even these modest buildings are often replaced with bland steel huts when upgraded now.

 

The substation shown here (Gainsborough Road No.2, right), located in a residential area, perhaps suffers somewhat in comparison with the impressive Gainsborough Road No.1 (above), but at least it was given a reasonably attractive frontage in the (ahem!) neo-classical style. To the right of this building was the infamous Pluto pub, now demolished, the site of which remains undeveloped. There is an OS Benchmark to the right of the doors.

Weetbix No.2 - Perhaps not the most impressive structure but doing an important job for Corby and the wider Breakfast Cereal loving community (OS Benchmark to the left of the doors).

Hazel Wood Substation - An object lesson of blending in with the natural world.