Lamp post outside 35 Low Pavement

Summary

Lamp post, erected sometime between 1896 and 1902.

Reasons for Designation

The lamp post outside 35 Low Pavement, Chesterfield which dates from the turn of the C20 is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* despite the replacement lantern, it is a well-crafted structure in cast iron and embellished with decorative detailing, and as such, a good example of late-Victorian street furniture.

Historic interest:

* it forms an important part of the historic street furniture in this locality.

Group value:

* it has strong group value with numerous listed buildings, including two identical lamp posts, and makes a positive contribution to the street it illuminates.

History

From 1826 Chesterfield was lit by gaslight under contract with its local gas company, the Chesterfield Water and Gas Company. A dispute over the price of gas while negotiating a new contract in 1881, however, resulted in the contract not being renewed and the gas company discontinuing its provision of municipal lighting. The council subsequently commissioned Robert Hammond & Co, which was instrumental in introducing electric arc lighting in Britain, to install arc lighting in the town, powered by a generator located outside the Theatre Royal (not extant). Chesterfield thus became one of the first towns in England to use electricity for lighting public streets. There were mixed opinions about the success of the scheme and following Hammond & Company’s notice of withdrawal from supplying lighting in the town, Chesterfield reverted to street lighting by gas in 1884. So great was the cost advantage of gas lighting at this time that by the end of the 1880s there were only about 700 electric arc lamps on the streets of British towns, and it was not until 1901 that a public electricity supply was again inaugurated Chesterfield. Despite this, electric street lighting was reintroduced only on piecemeal basis and by 1938, the number of gas lamps in use in the town was recorded as 1,656.

The lamp post adjacent to 35 Low Pavement in Chesterfield was erected sometime between 1896 and 1902 since examples of the same design first appear on photographs of the town dated 1902 (Francis Firth Collection, see Sources). The images also demonstrate that these lamp posts were originally fitted with a globe-shaped electric light which was later replaced by a lantern-style fitting in the late C20. There are two identical lamp posts close to the example outside 35 Low Pavement; one in front of 2 Central Pavement and the other adjacent to 63 Low Pavement; both are listed at Grade II.

Details

Lamp post, erected sometime between 1896 and 1902.

MATERIALS: constructed of cast iron.

DESCRIPTION: the lamp post stands at the roadside edge of the pavement in front of 35 Low Pavement. It has a circular base with inset medallion and a fluted plinth topped by a foliate bulb with a tall, slender column of two parts with a decorative collar and ladder rest. The column rises to a tulip-design baluster top which turns over into a half-circle bracket decorated with scrolls and a cast flower. It has been re-lamped with an enclosed lantern.

Sources

Websites
Public Lighting and the Public Lighting Engineer, no.19, vol.5, p24 and 73, accessed 17 November 2021 from http://www.simoncornwell.com/lighting/publications/ilp/journals/9.htm
The Francis Firth Collection, Chesterfield Photos, accessed 16 November 2021 from https://www.francisfrith.com/uk/chesterfield/photos
English Street Lights Online by Mike Barford - 115i Central Pavement/Market Place, Chesterfield, accessed 16 November 2021 from http://www.streetlightonline.co.uk/115i.htm

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