Summary

Six cast iron lamp posts of 1848 design set along a mixed parade of late C19 and early C20 commercial buildings, sited into their current positions after circa 1970.

Description

Former gas lamp posts, 1848 design with late C20 lanterns.

FORM: cast iron with a square base with embossed decoration featuring a Yorkshire rose set above a palmette to each face. Rising from the base is a tapering, reeded column topped by a palmette decorated bell capital. Above this are a pair of small lion heads flanked by ornately shaped ladder rests. Above, supported on four curving legs (known as a frog), is a modern reproduction of a ‘Windsor’ style lantern.

STREET SETTING: lighting a pavement set back from the road along a run of late Victorian and early C20 commercial properties, none being listed.

History

Harrogate’s first 97 street lamps were installed by the Harrogate Gas Company in 1848 on behalf of the Improvement Commissioners (established in 1841, the forerunner of Harrogate’s local council), with further street lamps added in subsequent years. Historical records show that the provision of street lighting in the mid-C19 was a particular focus for the town’s early local authority, prompting much controversy in the years around 1850. Victorian photographs of lamp posts on Promenade Square, Chapel Street, at Christ Church and the Crown Hotel (all locations for lamp posts installed in 1848) show posts matching the design of those set along Montpellier Parade. A distant view of Montpellier Parade, shown in a circa 1875 photograph, also shows similar lamp posts which had lanterns originally lit with open gas flames, these lanterns being generally replaced after 1898 with smaller ‘Windsor’ style lanterns with more efficient gas mantles, as shown in early C20 photographs. By 1970 Harrogate’s gas lamps had all been converted to electricity, generally with swan neck fittings, these subsequently replaced with more traditionally styled lanterns based on the ‘Windsor’ design.

The 1889-90 1:500 town plan of Harrogate shows two lamp posts in the general area of those on Montpellier Parade, but not in the positions currently occupied. A circa 1970 photograph of the eastern end of the parade does not show any street lamps, suggesting that the entire row of street lamps were installed after this date.

Reasons for Listing

The lamp posts along Montpellier Parade are listed for the following principal reasons:
* Decorative design: a relatively early design of Victorian mass-produced functional yet decorative street furniture;
* Date: although moved to their current locations in the late C20, these lamp posts are thought to be Victorian and relocated from elsewhere in Harrogate;
* Historical interest: as a marker of Harrogate’s C19 civic pride, the introduction of street lighting from 1848 being a particular focus of the town’s early local authority;
* Streetscape: for their strong visual contribution to the mixed parade of Victorian and early C20 buildings, forming an important part of the conservation area, their impact heightened by being a run of six examples.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26677878

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Gwent/Monmouthshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Wales)
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)