109EB. Saltaire, Baildon, Shipley, Bradford, West Yorkshire With thanks to Dwight for informing me of these Survivors. Installed at the top of a staircase leading down to the historical Salts Mill complex is a short cast iron pedestal column supporting a curved top-entry bracket and two-way mirrored reflector lantern; possibly, a 1930s' GEC "Directional Reflector" design - a copy of the once ubiquitous ESLA Bi-Multi lantern. If it is the GEC product, it is likely to be the F5157 version, with its 'wings' set at 160 degrees on the front of the lantern, and 200 degrees to the rear.
A slightly dramatic image, looking up at the installation from a few steps below the level in the early-morning September daylight.
An incandescent domestic reflector lamp is employed within the lantern, which would limit the output beam to a relatively narrow spot directly below the lantern, and doesn't utilise the lantern's own reflector system at all. I suspect that the reason for this could be that the lantern is equipped with an Edison Screw lampholder, and non-reflector incandescent lamps were difficult to find with this base type in the past - a pet hate of mine from the early 2000s (that I still see occasionally today) is where such lamps are fitted in domestic outdoor wall lanterns, despite being completely unsuited to the design of the lantern, simply because the householder couldn't find any more suitable lamps at their local DIY shop. Most British lamps would use the bayonet base instead, which poses a problem when faced with a fitting that uses ES instead - a far more common base type on the Continent.
Part of the old mill building, along with the Airedale railway line, provide a backdrop to this image.
The lantern is, in fact, installed the wrong way around on its bracket, with (what should be) the front facing towards the bracket.
Unlike the ESLA design, which used multiple mirrored facets cemented to each wing to create the required beam angles, this lantern uses single pieces of curved mirrored glass in its reflector system - probably, as a means of being able to mass-produce these products. Sadly, one of this lantern's two pieces of glass has been lost, and the remaining one is cracked.
The industrialist Sir Titus Salt was responsible for the construction of Saltaire Model Village, including the mill, which he intended to offer improved conditions to workers, in comparison to the conditions of contemporary mills and its worker accommodation elsewhere.
Construction of the Saltaire village commenced in 1851, and today, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and Conservation Area. Following the sale of the village by the mill in 1933, mains electricity was provided for the first time. This lantern may, therefore, date from around this time.
The former mill workers' houses are situated adjacent the mill buildings, as would be expected, and are separated into narrow, tightly-packed terraced streets, with many having a communal alleyway around the back. Both these streets, and the alleyways, remain home to many 15 ft (5 m) Stanton 7 concrete columns with A-type (swan neck) brackets. These columns were probably installed in the 1950s, but are fitted with later top-entry 35 Watt SOX (low pressure sodium) lanterns, with the Thorn Beta 5 being the most common type seen. Many of the streets are named after Titus Salt's own children - he had eleven of them, so there were plenty of streets to build! An exception is Albert Terrace, which was named after Queen Victoria's husband. This lone Stanton 7 survives on the communal alleyway between Albert Terrace and Caroline Street.
This Beta 5 is one of the few to retain a 35 Watt SOX lamp - most have been converted to run LED lamps.
Although trying to maintain these installations on such narrow roads must be challenging, trying to remove them would also prove difficult - in many cases, walls have been added to the yards at the rear of the properties, and these have been built around the columns.
This example is on an even narrower alleyway leading off Albert Terrace.
A small crack exists in the concrete between the end of the swan neck and the start of the column - this would be where the ladder bars would be positioned on some versions of this type of column.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given that this top-entry GEC Z9580 / Siemens SRL 35 is accessible by ladder only, an LED lamp is now installed here.
This example is on George Street. The impressive dome from Saltaire's United Reformed Church appears beyond the trees in the background.
The section of concrete above the lantern is cracking here, while the Beta 5's bowl hinge pin has failed, resulting in a length of insulation tape having to be wrapped around the lantern in an attempt to hold everything together.
The cracking appears worse on this side of the bracket.
The adjacent Amelia Street sees its Beta 5 surrounded by overhead telephone wires.
This is another off-road example to be seen from Caroline Street.
A SOX lamp remains installed here too.
The column on Fanny Street (no Inspector Grim quotes, please) sports the characteristic, and rather apt for the location, mineral salt deposits on the column shaft from where moisture has seeped into the concrete through a crack, flushing the salts out.
Mary Street is separated into two parts, with Titus Street (named after Titus Salt Jr, rather than Sr) passing between the two. This example is on Upper Mary Street.
A rather sizeable chunk of concrete was missing from between this installation's column and bracket.
This column is situated at the end of the short Constance Street.
This Beta 5 is fitted with a Venture Re-SOX LED lamp.
Around the back, the concrete column has been replaced with a mid-hinged tubular steel type, complete with an ASD Micro Highway Diamond LED lantern. Again, owing to the complexity in trying to remove the column, it has been left in place, complete with the fully intact lantern.
I am slightly surprised that the LED lamp was not removed from the Beta 5 when it was decommissioned, as it could have been re-used elsewhere.
Here is the reason behind why the old column has not been removed. Even cutting it down to the height of the wall wouldn't be a favourable option, as the unsupported weight of even that section of the shaft could cause it to fall away unexpectedly. The only realistic option would be to erect scaffolding around the column, and cut it down in sections.
Back on Upper Mary Street, this single Concrete Utilities' Byway-NX column with Arc 4 side-entry bracket supported a Philips MI 26.
With Philips having launched the MI 26 in 1986 (this being the first year that the lantern appeared in British catalogues), this is possibly the original lantern to be fitted to the Byway-NX column.
The concrete was probably the smoothest and cleanest that I have ever encountered on a column. The Stanton 7s would have featured a similar appearance when new.
On the other part of Mary Street, the first column supported the MI 26's older sibling, an MI 50, in top-entry form (the MI 51).
This too was still SOX when photographed.
Finally, this column is on Titus Street itself.
Not only is this bracket showing no signs of spalling; it was also home to a sunbathing damselfly (look closely)!
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