Five gas street lamps

Summary

Five cast-iron mid- to late-C19 gas street lamps, by various manufacturers.

Reasons for Designation

The five C19 gas street lamps on Moorlands Road are designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Intactness: the lamps are intact, with the exception of the loss of an arm to one of the ladder rests, and they remain lit by gas;
* Design quality: the lamp columns are well cast and elegantly-designed;
* Technological: they illustrate a technology which once transformed everyday existence;
* Group value: they form a functionally-related and co-visual group along the road;
* Historic interest: as part of an extensive network of similar gas-lit street lamps which survive across Malvern.

History

In 1851, permission was given for the building of a gas works at Sherrards Green in Malvern, the first to be built in the town. It opened in 1856, with the capacity to serve around 500 houses in the vicinity, as well as 200 street lamps. Further gas plants were opened around the town, and eventually all of Malvern, even remote locations, was provided with gas street lighting. In 1872, a lamplighter was paid 14s a week to light the lamps each evening. In total there were around 250 lamps, of which around 100 are still lit by gas, with a hand-wound clockwork mechanism to light them automatically. A further 125 have been converted to electric lighting; there are some replica lamp posts, and a few have been tapped off or lost entirely. The lamps were cast by a number of foundries, many of which were local, others much further afield, including Sheffield and Manchester. The lanterns were supplied by William Sugg & Company which was founded in London in 1837 to provide elements for gas lighting, and Foster and Pullen Ltd of Bradford.

Of the five lamps on Moorlands Road, one was manufactured by The Horseley Company of Tipton in 1856; the others date from the later C19 and are mostly by Dutton and Company of Worcester.

Details

Lamp at NGR SO7790746992
The tapering Windsor lantern is supported on four scrolled brackets, set on a barley-twist column above a moulded, studded ring. The lower part of the column is octagonal and has a foliate base. The ladder rest has twisted arms and moulded finials. By Dutton and Co. of Worcester; plinth is cast with the founder's mark.

Lamp at NGR SO7800747038
The tapering Windsor lantern is supported on four scrolled brackets, set on a barley-twist column above a moulded, studded ring. The lower part of the column is octagonal and has a foliate base. The ladder rest, of which one arm is missing, has a twisted arm and moulded finial. By Dutton and Co. of Worcester; plinth is cast with the founder's mark.

Lamp at NGR SO7807547049
The tapering Windsor lantern is supported on four scrolled brackets, set on a barley-twist column above a moulded, studded ring. The lower part of the column is octagonal and has a foliate base. The ladder rest has twisted arms and moulded finials. By Dutton and Co. of Worcester; plinth is cast with the founder's mark.

Lamp at NGR SO7813747079
The tapering Windsor lantern is supported on four scrolled brackets, set on a tapering octagonal column with a heavily-moulded, octagonal ring. It has a moulded base set on an octagonal plinth with chamfered and stepped stops. The ladder rest has octagonal arms with octagonal knop finials. By The Horseley Company Tipton; plinth is cast with the founder's mark.

Lamp at NGR SO7817247099
The tapering Windsor lantern is supported on four scrolled brackets, set on a tapering circular column with a capital that is decorated with a foliate design in relief. It has a baluster-shaped base with similar foliate decoration in relief, set on a circular plinth with moulded top and reeded foot. The ladder rest is elaborately moulded with pierced arms.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

488237

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Websites
William Sugg & Co 1837-1969, accessed from http://www.williamsugghistory.co.uk/lighting.htm
Greater Malvern Victorian Spa Town, accessed from http://www.civicvoice.org.uk/uploads/files/Malvern_-_Victorian_Spa_Town.pdf

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