article_snippet.sent: Thousands of the 165ft towers line the land, spoiling scenes of beauty with a cat’s cradle of high-voltage cables.
article_snippet.sent: Five years later, the biggest peacetime construction project seen in Britain, the connection of 122 power stations by 4,000 miles of cable, was completed.
article_snippet.sent: It marked the birth of National Grid and was a major stoking of the nation’s industrial engine and a vital asset during the Second World War.
article_snippet.sent: These stand some 50 metres high, weigh around 30 tonnes and carry up to 400,000 volts of electricity over thousands of kilometres to some of the most exposed, weather-beaten parts of Britain.