12PA. Windmill Walk, South Bank, Waterloo, London Borough of Lambeth Attached to a wall belonging to the Windmill Public House on this short footpath that links The Cut with the driveable part of Windmill Walk / Cons Street is a long-abandoned cast iron GEC bracket and wall box, supporting a lantern from the company's Z5560 range, which was designed for running 60 - 200 Watt GLS (incandescent tungsten filament) and 80 - 125 Watt MBF (mercury vapour) lamps. A free-standing faux heritage cast iron column supporting a facsimile of a Victorian gas lantern stands nearby, providing the modern illumination through the footpath. The genuinely old GEC installation is likely to date from the early 1950s - I wonder when it last saw use.
With the wall being relatively low, the bracket is also at reduced height, though it could have been installed a little further up the wall without causing a problem.
Along with the GEC logo, the box cover contains a decorative pattern and the catalogue number Z1912 as part of the casting.
In typical GEC fashion, the top-entry finial is rather functional in appearance, while the ornate boss positioned in the centre of the outreach bracket appears to be causing severe corrosion issues to the surrounding pipework. The lantern is misaligned on the bracket, and the bowl is misaligned within the lantern. There is also damage to the side of the bowl, which has led to a crack forming in the prismatic glass.
The supply cable enters the fuse / control box through a steel conduit that burrows below the footpath surface; presumably, to a joint on the underground electricity main.
A small notch is cut in the brickwork at the point where the conduit between the box and bracket passes over it; however, this move looks to have been unnecessary, with the conduit passing over it without causing a clash.
This angle demonstrates the misalignment of both the lantern and the bowl, as well as the corrosion to the cast boss.
The lantern requires turning slightly clockwise, and the bowl requires turning slightly more anti-clockwise.
The Great Pretender modern installation towers over its older equivalent.
This September 2017 Google Street View screenshot reveals that the bowl was hanging at the time, revealing that an elliptical lamp (probably, an MBF) remained within the lantern. As the above pictures confirm, the bowl support ring was, subsequently, re-secured.
BACK TO SURVIVORS IN GREATER LONDON
CLICK HERE TO MAKE A MONETARY DONATION
© 2002 - English Street Lights Online