Description

FOLKESTONE

737/0/10039 BATHURST RD
30-MAR-07 ELECTRICITY JUNCTION BOX OUTSIDE NOS.
12-14

II
Electrical junction box, early C20, believed to date to c1904.

DESCRIPTION: The junction box is cast iron with moulded decoration. Standing about 1.2m high, the box and base are square in plan, the base attic in form, standing on a shallow plinth. Each rectangular side of the box bears a panel with raised decoration enclosed within a moulded frame, one of which is a door giving access to the inside. The most elaborately decorated panel bears the crest of Folkestone Borough Council. Above each panel is a pendulous arabesque decoration hanging from the lower edge of the cornice. The chamfered moulded shoulders of the box spread to translate the square to an octagon, on alternate sides of which, above the chamfered corners of the square, are inverted cup handles with fluted decoration. Immediately above is a moulded cornice, and the box is finished with a domed cap.

HISTORY: The junction box stands on the roadside in front of Nos. 12 & 14 Bathurst Road. A date embossed on the porch of No.14 indicates that these, and No. 16, were built in 1904, ten to twenty years before the development of the surrounding area. It seems probable that the junction box was erected by Folkestone Borough Council, whose crest is on one of the side panels of the box, to provide electricity to these properties: this date is consistent with similar but rarely surviving structures erected elsewhere in England in the late C19 and early C20.

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE: The cast iron junction box on Bathurst Road is a good in situ example of early electricity distribution equipment. No other examples of this ornate design are recorded, and it may be unique to Folkestone. It is illustrative of the high quality of industrial design for the early electricity industry.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26671250

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.

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