Summary

Eight gas street lamps from the mid to late-C19.

Description

Eight gas street lamps within the churchyard, of various designs all with copper lanterns. Mid to late C19. Six have cast-iron columns. Four made by the Horsley Co. of Tipton have octagonal columns with rings, octagonal bases and caps, and double ladder rests. One by Dutton & Co. of Worcester, has a barley-sugar twist column and a missing ladder rest. One made by Hamilton Woods & Co. of Manchester has a fluted octagonal column and slender ladder rests. Two further gas lamps sit atop the sandstone piers opposite the north entrance to the priory. They have four curved iron brackets with leaf decoration. All are fitted with Sugg Windsor lanterns and are complete and working.

History

Modern street lighting, in the form of gas lamps, arrived in England at Pall Mall, London in the early C19. There followed a proliferation of cast-iron gas lamp posts in a prodigious range of designs, some highly ornamental.

The first gas works in Malvern opened in 1856 and in 1909, it was reported by the town surveyor and engineer, Mr W. Osborne Thorpe, that Malvern was lit solely by 1,120 gas lamps all fitted with incandescent burners. There are historical references to ‘a George Hammons being paid 14/- per week to operate the lamps twice a day’.

Reasons for Listing

Architectural interest: the lively and varied design of the gas lamps with features including barley sugar twist and fluting;
Intactness: they survive largely intact and in their original position as working gas lamps;
Group value: part of an extensive group of gas street lamps in Malvern, many of which are listed.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26668989

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

• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990: Updated version
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets