197K. York Street, Pimhole, Chesham, Bury, Greater Manchester With thanks to Dwight for informing me of this Survivor. Attached to a building located near to the junction with Rochdale Road is a Phosware (CU Phosco) P115 lantern. This must be one of the simplest lanterns ever produced, and appears to be a modified (and inverted) Perspex bowl from the sister P157 lantern. Such were the years of disuse that the lantern retained a 140 Watt SO/H (the original type of low pressure sodium lamp, with a detachable arc tube) in October 2014, but sadly, by June 2016, this had gone. The lampholder (not fixed but supported by its own wires) survived until August 2021, but by June 2023, even this looked to have gone.
This 1950s' / 60s' product contrasts sharply with the WRTL Arc 90 lanterns seen in the background, though even these popular lanterns from the mid-2000s were disappearing rapidly by 2024, owing to LED replacements seeing mass replacements of all older 'lamped' lanterns.
Another version of this lantern, the P114, was designed for top-entry operation.
The side refractor plates are long gone from the lantern.
This is the only example that is attached to the building - there aren't any other remaining examples, if others were installed in the past.
The steel bracket pipe is corroded - as (I suspect) will be the grub screws that secure the lantern to it.
The supply cable is seen entering the bracket from below, rather than being fed through the wall.
I wonder what the cost difference of these lanterns was in comparison to the more conventional aluminium-canopied, enclosed lanterns of the period.
A steel spine passes along the top of the lantern on the inside to provide a degree of strengthening to (what would be) quite a flimsy fitting otherwise.
BACK TO SURVIVORS IN GREATER MANCHESTER
CLICK HERE TO MAKE A MONETARY DONATION
© 2002 - English Street Lights Online