[10201] Nether Edge : Sewer Gas Lamp - No 4

Sewer Gas Destructor Lamp, Brincliffe Edge Road, Nether Edge, Sheffield.

Made by the Webb Lamp Company of Birmingham, early c20.

Grade ll listed.

 

Biogas forming in sewers can be dangerous. Unlike ordinary gas lamps for street lighting, the main purpose of sewer gas destructor lamps is to remove sewer gases and their hazards. It was Joseph Edmund Webb of Birmingham who patented a sewer gas destructor lamp.

 

With a flame generated by burning town gas, sewer gases were drawn from the sewer below and burnt off along with the town gas to produce mainly carbon dioxide.

 

The lamps were installed at places where sewer gases were likely to collect, such as at the tops of hills. The City of Sheffield, built on seven hills, had many sewer gas destructor lamps and some still remain.

 

84 were erected in Sheffield between 1914 & 1935, the largest number in any British town, mainly on the hills where gas could be trapped. Around 24 remain, some partially dismantled and some in good repair and listed, grade ll.

 

Information largely from Wikipedia.

 

 

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