Summary

A C19 gas street lamp.

Description

A C19 gas street lamp, situated at NGR SO7660747184.

The lamp is constructed of cast iron with a Windsor lantern. The tapering lantern is set on four scrolled brackets on a flared, reeded capital, on a tapering, reeded column running the full length of the shaft, into a flared foot on a square base. The ladder rest has reeded arms with moulded finials.

History

In 1851, permission was given for the building of a gas works at Sherrards Green in Malvern, the first to be built in the town. It opened in 1856, with the capacity to serve around 500 houses in the vicinity, as well as 200 street lamps. Further gas plants were opened around the town, and eventually all of Malvern, even remote locations, was provided with gas street lighting. In 1872, a lamplighter was paid 14s a week to light the lamps each evening. In total there were around 250 lamps, of which around 100 are still lit by gas, with a hand-wound clockwork mechanism to light them automatically. A further 125 have been converted to electric lighting; there are some replica lamp posts, and a few have been tapped off or lost entirely. The lamps were cast by a number of foundries, many of which were local, others much further afield, including Sheffield and Manchester. The lanterns were supplied by William Sugg and Company which was founded in 1837 to provide elements for gas lighting, and Foster and Pullen Ltd of Bradford.

The lamp at Lamb Bank was installed on this footpath in the mid-C19, and has remained unaltered apart from the replacement of its lantern with an identical replica.

Reasons for Listing

The mid-C19 gas street lamp on Lamb Bank is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Design interest: the lamp standard has an elegant reeded design which is well cast, and has a neatly-detailed Windsor lantern;
* Intactness: the lamp standard is intact, and remains lit by gas;
* Historic interest: this lamp is part of an extensive network of similar gas-lit street lamps which survive across Malvern.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26688307

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

• 
  Somerset: North and Bristol: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Essex: Buildings of England Series (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)