44. Jeremy's House. Having done articles about old lanterns owned by both Jeremy's mum and dad, I decided it was high time to do one about the old lanterns owned by Jeremy himself. These come in the form of two ESLAs, a Bell Top, a dual-lamp tungsten lantern and a Thorn Beta 4.
The night-time photographs look to be very dark; however, the actual amount of light given out is much greater. Some photographs may appear slightly blurred, as I was running low on battery power and so had to take each photograph very quickly to be able to photograph each lantern.
This is Jeremy's latest ESLA to be installed - it's a three-way one, mounted on an ex-gas column. The column is in front of a large conifer hedge, which is very well lit up! This lantern lights a footpath that runs past Jeremy's house, where before there had been no lighting. Notice how one ladder bar of this column has been cut off - this happened prior to the Second World War, in order that it could be used to help the war effort. The dual lamp tungsten lantern can be seen in the background.
This was Jeremy's latest ESLA to be installed - it's a three-way one, mounted on an ex-gas column. The column is in front of a large conifer hedge, which is very well lit up! This lantern lights a footpath that runs past Jeremy's house, where before there had been no lighting. Notice how one ladder bar of this column has been cut off - this happened prior to the Second World War, in order that it could be used to help the war effort. The dual lamp tungsten lantern can be seen in the background.
Standing almost in line with the front of the lantern, I noticed that rimpled mirrors are the reflector choice. They are in an extremely good condition, showing virtually no signs of age.
This photograph was taken at the exact position where the right hand mirrors focus, and as can be seen, they make 100 Watt seem so much brighter!
The Horstmann time switch box has the letters highlighted in gold.
The column was made locally, at the Browns Foundry.
Jeremy's Bell Top is mounted on a wall bracket, and is controlled with a PIR Sensor. A much more interesting security light than a halogen floodlight, I'm sure that you'll agree!
This is the dual lamp tungsten lantern. Both lamps were on when the photograph was taken, however the larger lamp is on part night control, so after midnight, only the smaller lamp stays lit. The column is a reproduction one, but looks very authentic.
Both lamps can just be seen here: smaller lamp on the left; larger lamp on the right.
This ESLA is a two-way. It too has rimpled mirrors. This is also mounted on an ex-gas column, this time a fluted one. The swan neck is quite large, and is decorated with swirls in the curve.
This ESLA is a two way. It too has rimpled mirrors. This is also mounted on an ex-gas column, this time a fluted one. The swan neck is quite large, and is decorated with swirls in the curve.
The swirls are painted gold, and show up very well in the light of the ESLA.
Jeremy installed another column outside his house in late 2004. It is modern in comparison to the existing installations as it is a modern Abacus drop-down, and the lantern is a Thorn Beta 4. He explains this choice below:
"The lantern and bracket are original from Mill Hill Walk footpath. The inside of the lantern is original and has not been repainted. The column is only a couple of years old, but is the same type of Abacus Raise-and-Lower used on the footpath in the early 1980s. When in use on the footpath, the lantern used a 125 Watt lamp, but this was not possible due to the new bowl not being able to withstand the heat from a 125 Watt lamp, so an 80 Watt one is used instead. (Note that the lamp is an original old Thorn 'Kolorlux', (2 starting electrodes and frank on the end of the bulb) of around 1977 to 1980.)
The ballast is a mid-80s Thorn of the same type used on the footpath. These were still available up to a couple of years ago but with an 'Atlas' name on them.
The cutout is an unusual Lucy type, used a fair bit around Mickleover and occasionally found in concrete columns on footpaths, etc. It has separate earth and neutral terminals.
The Time Switch case is original from the footpath but the Time Switch itself is a 'brand new' (unused) 1986 Horstmann 'Y' type Quartz solar with midnight-off switching. The original switch would have been a synchronous motor Horstmann 'K' type.
Note also, this is how a Raise and Lower column should be 'properly' wired up. A short length of heavy (1.5 mm²) flex connects from the base compartment to the hinged part of the column and connects to the cable to the lantern in a junction box at the base of the shaft-section of the column. Many intermittent faults and failures are due to 'hard' wiring cable (twin and earth) eventually breaking inside the cores at the hinged portion of raise and lower columns."
These first two pictures were taken before the lamp was fitted, or the base was wired up, on the 18th December 2004. The column is painted in the traditional 'Derbyshire Green' paint.
I then revisited once the lantern was working. This picture shows the wiring in the base:
The lantern is probably newer than my own Beta 4 is, as it does not have any reflective plate, or a lampholder focusing mechanism.
The manual override switch for the time switch was thrown, and the lantern came on and warmed up very quickly. It was left on as an extra hour or so of running wouldn't harm it.
I returned later on and noticed just how bright it was.
Following Jeremy's untimely death in 2021, his son organised the sale of some items that had belonged to him, in order to free up some space at the house, whilst retaining items that were of particular sentimental value. While calling in to collect a couple of lamps myself in January 2022, I decided to take fresh pictures of the lanterns, which remain in operation, despite his passing.
The three-way ESLA still provided illumination to the public grass verge at the end of the road.
The installation remained resplendent with its black metalwork and gold highlights.
A modern LED filament lamp was now fitted in the lantern.
No modern trickery had been introduced to control the lantern, however - the time switch remained operational within the Horstmann box.
The majority of the lantern's facets were undamaged.
Around the corner, the twin-lamp lantern made for an imposing presence with the sun shining behind it.
The Beta 4's bowl had yellowed slightly, as would be expected with the mercury lamp's UV rays, but not severely enough for the lamp to no longer be visible within the lantern.
The two-way ESLA was still present too.
The lantern is dayburning here as it had to be operated manually at the time - while I was visiting, I was asked to take a look inside the time switch box, and see what was causing the fault. Naturally, I was more than happy to do this (it was an honour to be asked), even if doing so felt extremely strange indeed, and made me gulp just a bit!
With this column having been installed for longer, the paint was more faded, but the installation still had an elegance about it that no modern street light could replicate.
This swan neck sported an AC Ford finial.
The writing on this time switch box was also highlighted meticulously in gold.
Despite the box being intended for Horstmann time switches, a newer Venner Vennerette unit was installed instead - the motor in this appeared to be defective, preventing the dial from turning, and thus, the light itself from operating automatically. A split concentric supply cable is used, with the live conductor being routed into a period re-wirable porcelain fuse assembly. Of course, the wiring within the box was to Jeremy's usual high standard!
A few of the facets in this lantern had had to be replaced, but again, most were in immaculate condition.
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