81b. Tittensor Road, Barlaston, Staffordshire Mounted to a building near the A34 end of this small village is an AC Ford box and curved bracket supporting a BTH Rural Open lantern. The only difference I could spot between this and the lantern on the previous page is that this example still retains its prismatic refractor ring. The lantern runs an 80 Watt mercury lamp, which looked fairly new when I saw it working. A Zodion two-part cell is fitted these days; however, the original Venner Time Switch box remains nearby - whether it still contains anything is unknown.
I had to stand on a steep slope in order to obtain this photograph!
By 2022, although the wall bracket remained extant, its service cable, which had been clipped along the property fronts, had been removed (this had happened by June 2011), and the maintenance number removed from the AC Ford box, suggesting that the installation had been abandoned, but left in place for posterity.
The lamp remains fitted, but is now rather grubby, owing to a build-up of cobwebs.
From looking up at the bracket, a slight misalignment of the pipe work, in relation to the wall, becomes apparent.
This may have been done to make the bracket match the angle of the property faces to the left.
I assume that originally, the supply cable terminated into the AC Ford box, where a fuse would be connected, and then a cable passed from that to the time switch, before returning and connecting to the lamp control gear. With the conversion to photocell operation, however, the circuit would have been rewired to exclude the time switch wiring.
The curved bracket features an AC168 finial and AC12 decorative collar.
After the installation's retirement, it appears to have been given a fresh coat of paint, including, over the Zodion photocell detector...if the lantern is ever returned to service, I hope that the time switch is ready to be reinstated too!
CLICK HERE TO MAKE A MONETARY DONATION
© 2002 - English Street Lights Online