235. Off Issa Way, Blackamoor, Guide, Blackburn with Darwen, Lancashire Situated on (what is now) land that has reverted to nature, but in the past, formed the Guide Square community of prefabricated houses constructed in the late 1940s to provide accommodation for those whose houses had been damaged or destroyed during the Second World War, are the remains of four 15 ft (5 m) Stanton 7 columns that would all have had B-type top-entry brackets originally. Fitted to these brackets were British Thomson-Houston (BTH) Rural Enclosed (Mazdalux Rural) lanterns; two of the lanterns survive today, but are nothing more than empty shells - the Guide Square site lasting only around twenty years until being demolished, and the residents moving to permanent accommodation. Thus, with the many years that have passed since the site was occupied, the fact that these columns remain at all is incredible. A fifth column was removed after January 2021 as part of the Issa Way construction works.
The columns look very out of place to be surrounded by greenery - nature will always win the ownership battle, ultimately.
A large amount of the concrete is missing from the top of this bracket, exposing the (now rusted) internal conduit within.
Heavy corrosion exists on the inside of the lantern's aluminium canopy. A lamp cap still remains in the broken ceramic lampholder.
The bracket was missing completely from the next column, which was being absorbed gradually into the wilderness by adjacent trees and ivy.
Although I did try to see if the bracket remained within the vicinity of the column, the vegetation was so overgrown that it may have become buried over time.
Literally nothing remained in the base compartment - even the backboard has disappeared.
Although the bracket remained in place on the next column, its end was damaged, and the lantern missing.
The conduit end looks to have rusted through completely.
The backboard was still present in this column, although nothing remained attached to it, and the base itself had become partially buried in the surrounding soil.
The final installation retained its bracket and lantern.
Here too, the backboard was missing, however.
Some of the concrete had eroded away from the top of the bracket.
Even the bowl retaining ring was missing from this lantern.
An intact lamp cap was still present here too, but again, the lampholder is broken.
A modern column on Issa Way shows that although these old columns now appear to be in the middle of nowhere, they are still not far from civilisation.
The bracket edges seemed very rough in comparison to most other Stanton brackets.
BACK TO SURVIVORS IN LANCASHIRE
CLICK HERE TO MAKE A MONETARY DONATION
© 2002 - English Street Lights Online