Drakelow is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

South Derbyshire South Derbyshire is a local government district in Derbyshire, England. The population of the local authority at the 2011 Census was 94,611. It contains a third of the National Forest, and the council offices are in Swadlincote. The district a ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is centred a small fraction over south of

Burton on Trent Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. In 2011, it had a population of 72,299. The d ...

and has a border with that town. The population of the civil parish including

Caldwell, Derbyshire Caldwell is a small village in south Derbyshire, EnglandCaldwell.org.uk
accessed 3 January 2008 within the Cauldwell, Derbyshire Cauldwell (pronounced "Cordal") is a small village and civil parish in South Derbyshire. Its streets are named Main Street, Church Lane and Sandy Lane. It has a school for children with special needs. It is 4 miles south east of Burton on Tren ...

at the 2011 Census was 249. The statutory annual Drakelow Parish Meeting is announced on th
Drakelow Community website

Geography and history

Some of the land is lower flood plain but most occupies gentle slopes, all on the east bank of the

River Trent The Trent is the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, third-longest river in the United Kingdom. Its Source (river or stream), source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midland ...

. Drakelow, whose name means 'Dragon's Mound', is mentioned in

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

, but was deserted later during the Middle Ages. A chronicler at the nearby

Burton Abbey Burton Abbey at Burton upon Trent in Staffordshire, England, was founded in the 7th or 9th century by St Modwen or Modwenna. It was refounded in 1003 as a Benedictine abbey by the thegn Wulfric Spott. He was known to have been buried in the abbey ...

, writing in the early twelfth century, claimed that this desertion took place because of supernatural events that had driven the residents away – specifically, attacks of two undead villagers from nearby Stapenhill. Drakelowe Hall or Drakelow Hall was the principal residence, and was home to the

Gresley Baronets The Baronetcy of Gresley of Drakelow was created in the Baronetage of England on 29 June 1611 for George Gresley of Drakelow Hall, Derbyshire who was later High Sheriff of Derbyshire and Member of Parliament for Newcastle-under-Lyme. The Gresley ...

, but this was replaced by

Drakelow Power Station Drakelow Power Station refers to a series of three now decommissioned and demolished coal-fired power stations located south of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire in the West Midlands of England, on the River Trent. However, the station was ac ...

and in turn its last cooling towers were demolished in September 2006.

Drakelow Power Station

In 2005, the electricity company E.ON was given permission to build a new power station on the site of the previous. The proposed

combined cycle gas turbine A combined cycle power plant is an assembly of heat engines that work in tandem from the same source of heat, converting it into mechanical energy. On land, when used to make electricity the most common type is called a combined cycle gas turb ...

(CCGT) is rated at 1,200 MW, and would provide sufficient power for 1,000,000 homes. Planning permission for upgraded plant as such to reopen a power station was granted in 2007, with a condition that combined heat and power capability would be built into the plant should a customer come forward that was economically viable. This consent was twice extended until October 2015, and a grid connection has been secured until 2014, as of November 2013.

References

Civil parishes in Derbyshire South Derbyshire District {{Derbyshire-geo-stub

Geography and history

Drakelow Power Station

See also

References