Gas Lamp Post Outside Number 36, Cambridge
Description: Gas Lamp Post Outside Number 36
Grade: II
Date Listed: 7 September 2010
English Heritage Building ID: 506952
OS Grid Reference: TL4391457250
OS Grid Coordinates: 543914, 257250
Latitude/Longitude: 52.1943, 0.1058
Location: Cambridge CB3 9JR CB3 9DY
Locality: Cambridge
Local Authority: Cambridge
County: Cambridgeshire
Country: England
Postcode: CB3 9DY
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Listing Text
667/0/10193 MILLINGTON ROAD
07-SEP-10 Gas lamp post outside number 36
II
Street lamp, erected by the Cambridge University and Town Gas Light Company, c.1889.
DESCRIPTION
Made of cast iron to a design loosely based on the classical column, the lamp consists of a fluted shaft on a circular base which is set on an octagonal plinth. The shaft tapers slightly before splaying out to form a plain banded capital. A simple four-sided lantern of metal and glass, crowned with a simple spike finial, rests upon four curved metal supports, and a ladder-rest projects from its base.
HISTORY
Gas was introduced to Cambridge in about 1822 by John Grafton. He made gas from oil for street lighting in 1823, producing gas from coal a little later and finally moving his production site to the riverside for ease of coal delivery. An Act of 1834 converted his company to the Cambridge Gas-Light Company, which in 1867 became the Cambridge University and Town Gas Light Company. Gas production ceased on the riverside site in 1969 following the introduction of North Sea gas into Cambridge.
Millington Road was built on land owned by King's College in 1889 and supplied with gas by the Cambridge University and Town Gas Light Company soon after. The gas lamps are still supplied with gas and have remained in use to the present day.
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION
The gas lamp post between nos 33 and 33a Millington Road, Cambridge is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* ARCHITECTURAL AND HISTORIC INTEREST: It is an unusual example of a finely-detailed C19 gas lamp
* INTACTNESS: It is still lit by gas.
* GROUP VALUE: It forms part of an ensemble of 10 other listable gas lamps of the same date and design in Millington Road.
Source: English Heritage
Listed building text is © Crown Copyright. Reproduced under licence: PSI Click-use licence number C2008002006.