134AI. Off Waterhouse Lane, Chelmsford, Essex With thanks to Dwight for informing me of this Survivor. Installed alongside the entrance to the Teledyne e2v premises is a 15 ft (5 m) concrete column, believed to be an extremely rare Broadcrete 443 design, with a 625 top-entry bracket supporting a lantern from GEC's Z555# "Small Oxford" range - the exact type being determined by the type of lampholder (and therefore, the lamp) employed. The installation is likely to date from around the mid-late 1940s, as the site began life as the English Electric Valve Company in that decade, with the present name being adopted in 2002, after the collapse of the parent Marconi group, and a subsequent management buyout. The rarity of Broadcrete products can be attributed to that company being bought out by rival Concrete Utilities not long after this column was produced, with much of the Broadcrete product portfolio being discontinued in favour of CU's own products.
The 625 bracket has a distinctive shape that differs considerably from the alternative contemporary offerings from CU, Stanton and GEC. Within the site, and not visible here, is at least one other column to the same design.
The "Small Oxford" comprises this distinctive deep glass refractor bowl combined with a die-cast aluminium canopy and internal secondary glass refractor dome. An alternative spun copper canopy was available until the 1950s, with that designation being in the Z554# series. Where a transparent teardrop bowl was employed, the lantern was then the "Small Wembley" instead.
The column's base is rather stumpy in design, and less refined than the bases of other concrete columns were. The door looked similar to the typical "drop latch" design employed by Concrete Utilities, so this column may date from a transition period, following CU's buyout.
Originally, I had thought that the rear section of the bracket fin had been removed, but then I realised that it was meant to be like this.
The column shaft's overall shape continues into the bracket, to create the appearance of a one-piece construction.
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