174BB. Clarence Road, Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham Located at the junction of Blake Street and Rosemary Hill Road, within the forecourt for a vehicle sales garage, are two 15 ft (5 m) Revo tubular steel columns, both supporting a C14404/T "Bell Top" lantern, also made by Revo. The columns were probably installed here second-hand, after removal from a public street elsewhere in the Birmingham area, as their cast inspection doors feature the Coat of Arms for the City. The lanterns may not be operational any longer, however, especially as one of the columns also supports a Thorn SONPak floodlight.
The two columns are positioned on one side of the site, and Google Street View imagery shows that no other examples existed - at least, not by 2008.
The design of the top-entry finials on the swan-neck brackets suggests that these are Revo products too.
An elliptical lamp remains installed in this lantern. Originally, a glass bowl would have been supplied; however, these were notoriously fragile, and very few survive. This (slightly discoloured) Perspex replacement makes for a reasonable substitute.
On the other column, the SONPak floodlight is bolted to the swan neck's spigot cap.
Another replacement bowl, of a different design, is employed here. Notice that the bowl retaining ring isn't quite closed correctly.
Owing to the paint flaking heavily, the Coat of Arms is difficult to see - a clearer example is pictured on the next page. Although the door was slightly ajar at the top, it wasn't open far enough to determine the components that were installed within it. The base is slightly wider than it would be on a modern 5 m tubular steel column.
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