Summary
Four cast iron lamp posts of 1848 design, set within a square that was one of the first to be lit by gas in Harrogate.
Reasons for Designation
The four former gas lamp posts within Promenade Square are listed for the following principal reasons:
* Decorative design: as good, early examples of Victorian mass-produced functional, yet decorative street furniture;
* Historic interest: Promenade Square being one of the parts of Harrogate to be the first to receive gas street lighting, being lit from 1848, a mark of the town’s civic pride;
* Streetscape: for their strong visual contribution to the Grade II-listed late C18 and early C19 houses forming the northern side of Promenade Square, and also group value with the Grade II-registered Valley Gardens to the SW and the Grade II*-listed Royal Pump Room to the SE.
History
Harrogate’s first 97 street lamps were installed by the Harrogate Gas Company in 1848 on behalf of the Improvement Commissioners (established in 1841, the forerunner of Harrogate’s local council), with further street lamps added in subsequent years. Historical records show that the provision of street lighting in the mid-C19 was a particular focus for the town’s early local authority, prompting much controversy in the years around 1850. Victorian photographs of lamp posts on Promenade Square, Chapel Street, at Christ Church and the Crown Hotel (all locations for lamp posts installed in 1848), show posts matching the design of the four now located around Promenade Square. These lamp posts originally supported lanterns lit with open gas flames, these being generally replaced after 1898 with smaller ‘Windsor’ style lanterns with more efficient gas mantles, as shown in early C20 photographs. By 1970 Harrogate’s gas lamps had all been converted to electricity, generally with swan neck fittings. The western three lamp posts of this group were subsequently fitted with more traditionally styled lanterns based on the ‘Windsor’ design.
The 1889-90 1:500 town plan of Harrogate shows that there was a lamp post close to each of the four corners of the square, the western-most lamp post occupying a position very close to the current western-most lamp post of the group. This position is believed to have been that of one of the first 97 gas lamps installed in 1848.
Details
Four former gas lamp posts, 1848 design with late C20 lanterns.
FORM: cast iron with a square base with embossed decoration featuring a Yorkshire rose set above a palmette to each face. Rising from the base is a tapering, reeded column topped by a palmette decorated bell capital. Above this are a pair of small lion heads flanked by ornately shaped ladder rests. Above, supported on four curved legs (known as a frog), is a modern reproduction of a ‘Windsor’ style lantern, with the exception of the eastern-most lamp post which has a circa 1970 swan neck fitting*.
STREET SETTING: with a close visual association with Grade II-listed town houses forming the northern side of the square, particularly when viewed from the Grade II-registered Valley Gardens and from the Grade II*-listed Royal Pump Room.
*Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the swan neck fitting is not of special architectural or historic interest.
