The Round Hill Society

Related articles

1. In The Dark Round Hill Reporter (Dec 2008)

2. Lamp Post Quiz interactive version (with answers)

3. Street lamps correspondence
How many emails does it take to save a lamp?

4. Save Our Swan-neck heads

What's up with our historic street lamps?
New street lamp posts have begun to appear at several locations throughout Round Hill.

On Monday 16 February, a new post was installed at the bottom of Belton Road. Princes Crescent saw a similar scene although in both cases, the bare metal posts were topless. At the junction of Mayo and Princes Roads, a post complete with bracket and lamp has been spotted.

Each new structure appeared next to an existing, functioning, cast iron lamp post and at first the activity was mystifying.

Any resident who has had reason to repair sections of their property facing the street will know that the restrictions in a conservation area are very difficult to meet. The replacement of sash windows for example has to be accomplished on a strictly "like-for-like" basis. This often means more work and additional expense for property owners but the benefit is that the historic streetscape is protected. The local authority should be bound by the same rules.

Brighton and Hove City Council confirmed that these installations were the result of an error by the works department which would be rectified soon

We have had to seek further assurances from the Council's Street Lighting Inspector, since a team from Colas was out on Sunday 1st March, fitting swan-necks onto the new galvanised steel posts and under the mistaken assumption that the cast iron columns were to be removed shortly.



Picture (SW end of Belton Road) courtesy of local resident Jim Vivian

Don't let them go!

Round Hill residents are urged to see that their traditional cast iron lamp posts are repaired and put back rather than removed and broken up for scrap.

Note: according to Brighton and Hove City Council's thematic study on street lights, Round Hill's type 1 street columns, only found in Brighton, were cast as gas lamps in a Brighton foundry. Type 2, mostly found in Hove, were cast as electric lamps by J. Every, the largest traditional iron and steel foundry ever to be based in Lewes, East Sussex.

The street lights were later powered by BLEECO,
the Brighton, Lancing and Eastbourne Electricity Company.



The current swan necks were added in the 1930s.

The reason for moving lamp posts back from the kerbs, is to prevent vehicle damage, but make sure you don't lose them!"

When the cast iron posts were erected on the kerb, they were provided with a single ladder bar on the right hand side The door would usually be on the pavement side so as the lamp fitter climbed the ladder on the pavement side, he would hold the post with his left hand, leaving his right hand free to do any work.