Two gas street lamps

Summary

Two gas street lamps by the Horseley Company of Tipton (one dated 1869); the two nearby C20 replicas are not included.

Reasons for Designation

The mid-C19 gas street lamps in Rosebank Gardens are designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Design interest: the lamp standards are well cast, and each has a neatly-detailed lantern;
* Intactness: the lamp standards are intact, with the exception of the loss of one arm of one ladder rest, and they remain lit by gas;
* Group value: the lamps form a functionally-related and co-visual group lighting the Ninety-Nine Steps;
* Historic interest: these lamps are 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 about 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 and Company which was founded in 1837 to provide elements for gas lighting, and Foster and Pullen Ltd of Bradford.

The two original lamps in Rosebank Gardens were installed in the C19; two modern replicas (not of special interest) were added in the C20.

Details

Two gas street lamps, two by the Horseley Company of Tipton (one dated 1869); two C20 replicas to the south are not included.

Lamp at NGR SO7739745817
The lamp is constructed of cast iron with a Windsor lantern supported on four scrolled brackets, set on a tapering octagonal cast-iron column with a heavily-moulded octagonal ring, with a moulded base set on an octagonal plinth with chamfered and stepped stops. The ladder rest is octagonal with octagonal knop finials; one arm of the ladder rest is missing. By the Horseley Company of Tipton.

Lamp at NGR SO7744145813
The lamp is constructed of cast iron with a Windsor lantern supported on four later curved brackets, set on a tapering octagonal cast-iron column with a heavily-moulded octagonal ring, with a moulded base set on an octagonal plinth with chamfered and stepped stops. The ladder rest is octagonal with octagonal knop finials; one arm of the ladder rest is missing. By the Horseley Company of Tipton; rear of plinth is cast with founder's mark and date 1869.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

488239

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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