Welcome to the Western Power Electricity Historical Society

Welcome to our new website and to the Western Power Electricity Historical Society, the home of electricity history in England and Wales.

As you can see from the new logo above, we have recently changed our name from “South Western Electricity Historical Society” to “Western Power Electricity Historical Society” to reflect our wider geographical interests and to recognise the considerable support given to us by Western Power Distribution. We are adding content to the new website each week.

Museum of Electricity, Cairns Road, Bristol

A small part of our historic archives

What’s on the Electricity Historical Society website?

Apart from this Home Page, the following facilities are currently available:

• Who Are We? – linked to a brief history of the Society
• Join Us
• Contacts
• Archives
• Museum – including photos of some of our collection of artefacts
• Web Links
• Photo Library – a selection of the thousands of images in our collection
• Films – a selection from our collection
  
• Generating Stations in the South West – listed by area
• Early Public Electricity Supplies in the South West – listed by date
• Electric Transport in the South West – tramways, cliff railways, trolley buses and technical articles
• Events Diary – our events programme for the year
  
• Histelec News – issues of our Society magazine
• Histelec Articles – a complete set of our in-depth articles and research supplements
• Speakers – talks given by our members to other organisations
• Feedback Form – Please use it to let us know what you think of this website

Later we aim to add pages on Society Publications, Renewable Energy, Days Out etc.

Can I visit the Museum of Electricity and the Electricity Historical Archives?

Yes! Please come and visit to to research your favourite historical aspects – for example, you may be interested in old technology, transport or the social aspects of electricity. Our collection of old photos or films, and our electricity history archives, document more than a century of the history of electricity. Please check out the Museum, Archives and Photo Library pages for just a taste of what we offer.