220. Promenade, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire Installed around the section of Promenade that includes Cheltenham Borough Council's building are a number of GEC Z8455 ornamental post-top lanterns attached to short cast iron plinth columns. Although designed for running two or four 2 ft (600 mm) 40 Watt linear fluorescent lamps, none of the original equipment remains within the lanterns; today, each runs two elliptical high pressure sodium (SON-E) lamps instead.
The plinths all surround a central grassed area. The Z8455s would have replaced earlier lanterns in the 1960s or 1970s.
The design is similar in appearance to the sister ZD10807 lantern, although the Z8455 appeared first, and used copper and brass metalwork originally, before changing to aluminium for later versions.
This example was seen in the November 2020 Google Street View image to have damaged or missing glazing panels, revealing the updated light source within the lantern. Thankfully, by April 2024, the damage had been repaired.
Originally, the panels would have been a more transparent type that included refractor prisms, with some being of Moroccan glass.
This example was at the most southerly tip of the grassed area.
The close-up reveals that one of the smaller lower panels is missing.
Very little was visible through the gap created by the missing panel, although this too confirmed that no fluorescent lamps remained in place.
At the other end of Promenade, this example is seen next to a 600 mm No Left Turn traffic sign, which gives a sense of scale.
The slight verdigris appearance to the metalwork, particularly the canopy, proves the use of copper-based alloys in this lantern's construction.
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