164AE. Stratford Fire Station, Masons Road, Shottery, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire Installed within the grounds of the fire station is a 9 ft (2·74 m) Stanton 1 concrete column supporting a GEC 'Forty-forty' Z8442 post-top lantern, for four 2 ft (600 mm) 20 or 40 Watt MCF (linear fluorescent) lamps. The installation (and fire station itself) is likely to date to the early 1950s, although the Stanton 1 column had been in production since the 1930s. The column retains a live electricity supply, which increases the chance of the installation still being in operable condition.

The column's short height is highlighted by the fact that the adjacent external sign light attached to an 8 m tubular steel column is positioned at approximately the same height as the lantern is positioned at.

The translucent Perspex cylinder that is sandwiched between the base and upper castings has 'Fire' lettering painted vertically along it. The cylinder must have split, requiring two cable ties to hold it together.

A decorative image depicting a fireman doing the job that he does best is formed into the brickwork above the door into the fire station.

The lantern's canopy is secured using the same type of thumbscrew that was also used on the Z5640/3 range. The marks on the column spigot suggest that ladder bars may once have existed, but have been removed in the modern era. Given the established vertical cracks in the column, I don't know whether I would be happy to rest a ladder against it, and climb up, anyway.

The inspection door is detached, revealing a modern BILL fused cut-out in the base. As the door is cast aluminium, rather than sheet steel, as earlier Stanton 1 doors were, this can be confirmed as a later example of this column type.

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