More than a century of hydro-electric power
In 1893, the 8th Duke of Devonshire commissioned water-powered turbines to harness the gravity-fed water system that already existed to feed the famous Chatsworth fountains. Gilkes of Kendal installed 3 vortex turbines and a generator in an underground chamber, approximately 400 feet down the hill from the man-made lakes that feed all the outdoor water at Chatsworth. The house was fed with this green electricity until 1936, when the estate was connected to the National Grid. In the 1980s, the 11th Duke and the Chatsworth estate went back to Gilkes, with a commission for a new turbine, fed by the same 19th century pipes, and this now generates approximately 1/3rd of the annual electric needs of Chatsworth house.