109L. Market Place, Settle, North Yorkshire With thanks to Dwight for informing me of this Survivor. Attached to a relatively short cast iron column located adjacent the main road is a GEC Z8128 'Clearmain' lantern, designed for running a 250 - 400 Watt mercury vapour (MA/V type originally; MB type later) lamp, but it could easily be running a completely different lamp type and wattage here. Although the use of a main road lantern at such a short mounting height (even with an extension piece added to increase this) is unusual, there are few other street lights in the Market Place area, meaning that this would be required to produce quite a distant spread of light for anyone traversing the area here after nightfall.

The column (at its original height) is likely to have supported a gas lantern originally, before being converted to run electric lanterns later. In fact, this (approximate) 1920s' image confirms this assumption, with a gas lantern being installed at the time.

With the lantern being fitted with a tapering glass refractor bowl, I believe that it will be slightly newer than my own Z8128B is.

An Ediswan-branded enclosure for housing the fuse and any discharge lamp control gear is also attached to the extension section. This may pre-date the Clearmain, as Ediswan became part of AEI in 1956, suggesting that an earlier electric lantern may have existed here. Another archival image would call this theory into question, however, as the box is clearly visible, along with (what looks to be) the Clearmain, in 1959. This undated earlier image shows that a swan neck bracket and top-entry lantern existed on the column after the gas lantern was removed, and the Ediswan box is not there then.

The enclosure may also have accommodated a time switch control in the past, but today, the lantern is switched using a SELC 841 photocell installed on the side of the box.

 Notice that the spigot section of the post-top harp bracket is somewhat wider than the extension pipe is, requiring fairly lengthy bolts to secure the two together.

The pillar box installed alongside carries the cipher for King George V (reigning from 1910 - 1936), and it was present in the above image featuring the swan neck bracket too.

< Previous | Next >

BACK TO SURVIVORS IN NORTH YORKSHIRE

BACK TO SURVIVORS

CLICK HERE TO MAKE A MONETARY DONATION