Monstrosities Mon Amour LIVE: Bradwell Nuclear Power Station with Gillian Darley

This episode was recorded live at the Horse Hospital in London on 10 May 2026 as part of Concrete Atlantis.

In this special episode, historian and biographer Gillian Darley kidnaps not just me but a whole audience at the Horse Hospital and takes us on a trip to the Essex coast, site of the long decommissioned Magnox nuclear power station at Bradwell-on-Sea. She admires it for its sublime impact on the landscape, and its ancient neighbour St Peters Chapel, built for St Cedd, for its picturesque beauty.

Hear the extraordinary story of how the power station was blithey waved through in the 1950s, and of the strange landscape in which it sits, and the graveyard of boats just off the coast.

After the big theme of nuclear power, Gillian’s minor monster is as contrasting as could be – the shoe horn, an object she cannot get by without…

Gillian Darley is an acclaimed writer and broadcaster focussed on, as she says, ‘inspiring people, intriguing buildings and beguiling landscapes’. Her many books include Villages of Vision: A Study of Strange Utopias (1975), a biography of Ian Nairn (co-authored with David McKie (2013) and Excellent Essex: In Praise of England’s most Misunderstood County (2019). Find out more about her and her incredible work at https://gilliandarley.com

Concrete Atlantis is a series of events curated by former Monstrosities guest Travis Elborough and held at the Horse Hospital in London. Thanks so much to him, and the team who recorded the episode and made the whole event possible.

Theme tune by Lorna Rees and Rufus Rees Coshan. You can support Monstrosities Mon Amour by subscribing through Substack or through Ko-fi at https://ko-fi.com/grindrod

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