Summary
Four bollards at Victoria Parade, dated 1848, manufactured by Cort and Bell of Leicester.
Description
Four cast-iron bollards, dated 1848, manufactured by Cort and Bell of Leicester.
Four cast-iron bollards, each taking the form of a square-plan obelisk on a base. The date of manufacture ‘1848’ and name of the foundry ‘CORT & BELL / LEICESTER’ are cast on the front elevation of each bollard. The bollards stand at either end of Victoria Parade, with three at the south-west end facing Market Place, and one at the north-east end facing Gallowtree Gate.
History
The four bollards, dated 1848, are believed to be contemporary with the opening of Victoria Parade in the same year. It appears that Victoria Parade originally had six bollards, three at each of the Market Place (south-west) and Gallowtree Gate (north-east) ends, however only four bollards now survive. A postcard drawing of Cheapside in 1852 shows three bollards at the Market Place end, and the 1886 Ordnance Survey (OS) map confirms the presence of three bollards at each end of Victoria Parade. A photograph taken in 1974 shows four bollards at the Market Place end, and one central bollard at the Gallowtree Gate end, corresponding with OS map evidence from this period. One of the four bollards at the Market Place end was removed around 2000, when the area was repaved.
The Britannia Foundry was established by ironmonger James Cort at the public wharf at Belgrave Gate in Leicester in 1799, and was the principal foundry of the town during the first half of the C19. James and Benjamin Cort took Joseph Bell into partnership, and commenced manufacture as Cort and Bell. The company began to struggle by the end of the 1840s, and was merged with the Rutland Foundry in the 1850s.
Reasons for Listing
The four cast-iron bollards on Victoria Parade, dated 1848, manufactured by Cort and Bell of Leicester, are listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* as simple but well-executed street furniture, bearing a date and the name of the local manufacturer
.
Historic interest:
* as a surviving group at each end of Victoria Parade cast by the principal foundry in Leicester at the time.
Group value:
* the strong geographic group value with listed buildings on Market Place, notably numbers 69 and 71 (List entry 1073996)
External Links
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
County Durham (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England) by Elizabeth Williamson Nikolaus Pevsner(1983-03-11)
The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
For the Record
Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]