Two lamp posts outside 7 and 21 Cecil Court

Summary

A matching pair of gas streetlights, comprising cast-iron 'St Martin's' columns dating from about 1890, with Upright Rochester lanterns manufactured by William Sugg and Company Limited, probably installed around 1930.

Reasons for Designation

The pair of lamp posts in Cecil Court are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Historic interest:

* as good examples of Victorian lamp columns with later, improved lanterns and extension shafts, illustrating the evolution of gas lighting technology in the late C19 and C20;
* for their contribution to the historic character of Cecil Court, a pedestrianised shopping street largely rebuilt in the late C19.

Architectural interest:

* for the well-crafted, highly decorative column in cast iron, which is a good example of late-C19 street furniture;
* for the design of the inter-war Upright Rochester lantern, one of the most popular and enduring designs of inverted, 'shadowless' lamps of the C20.

Group value:

* with contemporary historic buildings on Cecil Court and with a wider group of historic lamp posts across other key streets within the Covent Garden area.

History

Gas street lighting first appeared in London in June 1807 when Frederick Albert Winsor gave a public demonstration of gas lights in Pall Mall. The expansion of the railways coinciding with the development of urban gas works in the 1840s facilitated the proliferation of cast iron lamp posts with open-flame gas burners across the capital in the mid-C19. This feature of industrialisation was seen to contribute to London’s international standing and facilitated the development of modern urban living, increasingly unconstrained by daylight hours.

Electric street lighting was introduced from the 1880s and the gas industry responded by making technological improvements to gas lights, principally the incandescent gas mantle in 1896. This significantly increased the efficacy of gas light, but it was not until the introduction of the inverted gas mantle in 1905 that gas streetlights were able to match the efficiency and brightness of the rival electric carbon filament lamps. In the 1920s and 1930s, many gas lamp posts in Westminster were upgraded with new, ‘shadowless’ lanterns fitted with inverted mantles. Gas remained an important source of power for street lighting as late as the mid-C20, and smaller numbers of lamps have continued to run on gas into the early C21.

Cecil Court is thought to have been first laid out in the 1670s as part of the development of the Salisbury Estate, begun by Robert Cecil, first Earl of Salisbury around 1610. Now celebrated for its bookshops, Cecil Court is also known for being the place where eight-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart lodged for four months in 1764 while he performed his first London concerts and performed twice for King George III and Queen Charlotte. Later, in the late C19 and early C20, Cecil Court became an important centre for the early British film industry, which gained it the nickname 'Flicker Alley'.

The street is said to have been gas-lit since it was substantially rebuilt for the Salisbury Estate between 1888 and 1890, and it is presumed that the present pair of lamp posts were installed at that time. The Upright Rochester lanterns were supplied by William Sugg and Co Lighting and were probably installed around 1930 to replace earlier, outdated lanterns. An archive photograph dated 1917 appears to show the east lamp post with a square, Windsor lantern, which may have been the original. Rochester lanterns were the 'storm-proof' version of a series of lanterns introduced from the early C20 and went on to become one of the most popular designs of shadowless lanterns. William Sugg and Company sold large numbers for use in street lighting, railway stations and goods yards.

Founded in Westminster in 1837, the company became an important supplier of interior and exterior gas lighting and received important commissions such as lighting the exteriors of Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle in 1901. After initially operating from Marsham Street, for most of its lifetime the company was based at Vincent Works, Regency Street and Ranelagh Works, Chapter Street. Lighting manufacture was paused during the First World War while the company produced munitions, but post-war work picked up with the production of conversion sets for pre-war lanterns, many of which still had upright mantles and required updating to more efficient inverted mantles.

Details

A matching pair of gas streetlights, comprising cast-iron 'St Martin's' columns dating from about 1890, with Upright Rochester lanterns manufactured by William Sugg and Company Limited, probably installed around 1930.

MATERIALS: cast iron columns with glazed lanterns of iron, spun copper and enamelled steel.

DESCRIPTION: the two lamp posts are positioned centrally in the pedestrianised Cecil Court, one outside number 7 and the other outside number 21. Both have ornate, 'St Martin's' columns of cast-iron with later Upright Rochester lanterns. The columns are around 3m tall, with an ornamental spiral design to the shafts. The name of the original parish, ST MARTIN IN THE FIELDS, is embossed on one side of the base of each column, above a worn relief depicting a mounted St Martin dividing his cloak to give half to a beggar. At the top of the shaft, each column has a ladder rest integrated with decorative scrollwork on one side only, an unsual feature for its asymmetry. Above the ladder rest is a moulded collar and a short shaft extension added at the same time as the Rochester lanterns to increase their height and light distribution. Each lantern has a circular, weatherproof chimney above an inverted, six-mantle burner contained in a spherical glass enclosure with a drainage hole to its base. The main body of each lantern is supported on a pair of upright arms, which project at right-angles from the cast-iron control clock box and pass through the enamelled steel reflector to provide the gas supply to the burner.

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Bradley, S, The Buildings of England: London 6 Westminster, (2003), 402
Gater, G H, Hiorns, F R, Survey of London: Volume 20: St Martin-in-the-Fields, Part III: Trafalgar Square and Neighbourhood, (1940), 115-122
Sheppard, FHW, Survey of London: Volumes 33 and 34: St Anne Soho, (1966), 339-359

Websites
A History of Cecil Court, accessed 19 October 2023 from https://www.cecilcourt.co.uk/a-history-of-cecil-court#:~:text=Cecil%20Court%20Begins&text=The%20land%20on%20which%20Cecil,pub%20on%20St%20Martin's%20Lane.

End of official list entry

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