March of the Pylons

In September 1933, the last of 28,000 pylons was erected to complete Britain's first national grid.

For some, pylons were modern icons symbolising a rejection of the heavy industrial 'smoke age' in favour of a high-technology future. Their place in the landscape was planned, orderly and 'right'. For others, though, the towers brutalised a seemingly timeless countryside.

Where did Britain's power network originate? Who was responsible for planning the grid, and what formed their inspiration? And how did Britons respond to the march of the pylons?

This Science Museum Talk, led by curators Tim Boon and David Rooney as part of London Design Festival, will reveal lost histories behind our first national grid. A little-known 1920s photographic archive will set Britain's experience in an international context, while a screening of Paul Rotha's 1935 documentary film, The Face of Britain, in collaboration with the British Film Institute, will highlight the ambivalent symbolism of the pylon.