One utility company is celebrating its 200th anniversary this year, and it’s possibly one that most people think is lost to history. The Public Lighting Division of British Gas, which provides gas street lighting, is alive and well – even if it covers fewer streets now than it did in its prime.
For those who think of gas lights as the preserve of black and white films, it comes as a surprise to find that around 1,300 gas lamps are still lighting London streets, many in the centre but some as far afield as Richmond in the west and near the Olympic Park in east London.
Phil Banner and Gary Usher are part of a dedicated team that maintains the gas lamps in London, and I was lucky enough to join them on a route, as evening fell, that would once have bee n taken by the lamplighters of yesteryear.
Many of the remaining gas lamps are sited in the historic streets around Westminster. In these old streets the gas has a softer glow than newer electric lights. The area also boasts some of the newest gas lamps – a row restored to the facade of the House of Lords.
Phil and Gary explain that some changes have had to be made over the years. The columns sit at the edge of the pavement, and the cast iron and glass lamps that top them have been struck, displaced and broken so often by modern high-sided trucks that all columns have been fitted with extensions to raise the lights higher.
One column has ladders chained to the side, for use by the inspection and repair team, who travel around London by motorbike. It’s an easy way to get to the large number of lamps that are controlled by clock timers, each of which has to be wound every two weeks. The bikes are also good for fast responses to calls from what the team calls the lamps’ “guardians” – those who live or work near them and are quick to call in any damage. Newer lamps are controlled by a light sensor.
Our tour moves on past the Home Office building – an important site, because it is the place where the founder of the Public Lighting company, Fred Windsor, built the first gas works to feed nearby street lamps. A plaque marks the spot.
As we follow the trail of gas lamps through St James’s and The Mall, our guides point out the variety of column bases. They vary according to location. There is the original – known as the Eddystone – in Westminster and the Leicester, first used in Leicester Square. The most distinctive is the Trafalgar, which looks like a cannon from the ships that took part in that battle. The originals were indeed fashioned from cannon once used at sea.
Among their 1,300 charges, Gary and Phil each have a favourite. For Gary, it’s one outside Westminster Abbey that was often photographed or seen on film shots with Big Ben in the background. For Phil, it’s a lamp hidden away in the precincts of the Abbey that has stained glass with a picture of Edward the Confessor. Phil is also fond of a lamp at the rear of 10 Downing Street, which apparently is topped by cupids. But that’s one – like many of the lamps the team maintain – that is not visible to the public. It’s the Public Lighting Company that maintains the gas lamps in London’s palaces, and that is the reason why that company, and its parent British Gas, was awarded the Royal Warrant.
You may not see the Public Lighting staff in action, as they work some unusual hours to avoid London’s tourists, but rest assured they are there.