69CEE. Kelvin Road, Northfield, Turves Green, Birmingham With thanks to Dwight for informing me of this Survivor. Located at a point where Kelvin Road splits into two separate roads is a Revo 'Moseley' 10 ft (3·048 m) cast iron column, supporting a swan neck bracket and later Prefect lantern, also made by Revo. Why the installation has avoided any sort of later "modernisation" is unknown, although a factor could be its positioning within an enclosed grassed area - the ownership status of this could be undetermined. Despite this, the whole installation received a full repaint from Birmingham's old brown colour scheme to its current mid-grey scheme at some point after August 2012.
The Prefect could be a 1960s' replacement for an earlier lantern, although I am uncertain as to when Revo ceased production of their cast iron column range - by the 1960s, such elaborate products were probably considered old-fashioned in the "Brave New World" that was emerging at the time.
The lantern's polycarbonate bowl has discoloured over time, and a small portion of the plastic is broken, but the installation still probably continues to operate in nightly service.
This is a slightly different design to the conventional Moseley column pattern - the distance between the ladder bars and the column spigot is longer, and the ladder bars themselves are of an altered appearance. The remains of an old maintenance number plate are still attached to the column shaft, but the repainting has concealed whatever number the plate used to display.
The contemporary Birmingham Coat of Arms that existed when the column was made is cast into the door.
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