Summary

A gas lighting column of late C19 date.

Description

Gas lighting column, later converted to electricity. A later C19 column for the Hastings and District Gas Lighting Co.

MATERIALS: cast iron.

DESCRIPTION: comprises a tapering fluted column about 2.5m high with two decorative bands, a tulip-shaped top and a moulded octagonal base. At the top of the column is a replacement bracket which supports a late C20 electric light.

History

The Hastings and District Gas Lighting Co operated from the gas works in Queens Road from 1832.

This column does not appear on the 1873 Ordnance Survey Map and is probably of later C19 date. It is not of the standard pattern of the Hastings and District Gas Lighting Co introduced from the 1870s onwards, surviving examples of which are listed in St Mary's Terrace, and it was never as numerous as the standard pattern. It may now be the only surviving example of this design in Hastings. No inscription is visible on the base of the column which is partially concealed by ivy and sunk into the ground.

In the 1920s the column was converted to electricity by the addition of a rectangular electricity box of the Brighton Lighting and Electricity Engineering Company, a company which was founded by Henry Heaps in 1921, and it had the remains of a manual switch on the outside.

This structure was statutorily listed in 2002. An inspection in July 2015 showed that the BLEECO electricity box with remains of a manual switch had been removed and the original swans neck bracket had been replaced with one of a different profile. It is reported that the electricity box was taken into protective custody by the owner of the adjoining property when these works were carried out.

Reasons for Listing

A gas light lamp post column close to Exmouth Place, Hastings, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Date: the column dates from the late C19;
* Design interest: this is a non-standard design by the Hastings and District Gas Lighting Company with a more rounded octagonal base and a more elaborate column than the standard design, and with a tulip design at the top;
* Rarity and intactness: there were only a few columns of this type in Hastings and this may now be the only remaining example; the column is also intact.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26388408

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

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  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
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  England's Post-War Listed Buildings
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  Sussex: East with Brighton and Hove (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  London 3: North West: North West v. 3 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)