Stanton Ironworks, nr. Nottingham, U.K. : street lighting columns and brackets catalogue c.1950 : pages 24 & 25
Many years ago, as a school child, to find some answers to questions I had about old street lighting, I wrote to Stanton plc as Stanton Ironworks had become. Stanton Ironworks, near Nottingham, had become one of the UK's main manufacturers of street lighting columns - not in steel as may have been expected but in the new 1930s technology of spun concrete street lighting columns and brackets. They continued in business with a variety of styles and designs up into the 1980s when concrete standards went 'out of fashion'. This was largely due to the fact that when hit, concrete columns do not deflect and so inflict damage to vehicles and occupants - as this catalogue shows but making a point here about the fact their columns would stand such a passing blow.
Concrete lamp standards became popular due to several factors; initial cost and a seeming lack of maintenance was one as unlike steel columns these did not require painting on a regular basis. Another was architectural fashion and design; concrete could be moulded into so many shapes and forms and some eraly bracket designs were fanciful to the point of becoming ridiculed in the world of industrial design. This afflicted Stanton less than their great rival, Concrete Utilities of Ware, whose early works were quite something to behold! By the 1950s design had swung back to simplicity and utilty and Stanton's designs, like others, would mirror this shift. In addition the technology of production was better understood and so manufacturing became more economical in terms of materials. These were the inner steel wire and sections used to tension or stress the column with the concrete centrifugally spun around the 'outline' of the column in a mold.
In response to my childhood letter some kindly soul at Stanton photocopied pages from this earlier catalogue dating to around 1950; there are mentions of wartime damage to installations and the designs are before the early/mid 1950s simplification of columns and brackets that would be marketed as Stanton 8's and 9's. These are scans of photocopies and so can be a bit blurry but I think they are of enough interest to post here.
I have posted some single pages from this catalogue earlier and may now delete these older scans. Here we see what was to become a very common installation of B class lighting; the Stanton 7A column and bracket with a top entry lantern, in this case by GEC. It 'blends' into the suburban landscape of Clacton-on-Sea in Essex and would have been found in many UK streetscapes.
Stanton Ironworks, nr. Nottingham, U.K. : street lighting columns and brackets catalogue c.1950 : pages 24 & 25
Many years ago, as a school child, to find some answers to questions I had about old street lighting, I wrote to Stanton plc as Stanton Ironworks had become. Stanton Ironworks, near Nottingham, had become one of the UK's main manufacturers of street lighting columns - not in steel as may have been expected but in the new 1930s technology of spun concrete street lighting columns and brackets. They continued in business with a variety of styles and designs up into the 1980s when concrete standards went 'out of fashion'. This was largely due to the fact that when hit, concrete columns do not deflect and so inflict damage to vehicles and occupants - as this catalogue shows but making a point here about the fact their columns would stand such a passing blow.
Concrete lamp standards became popular due to several factors; initial cost and a seeming lack of maintenance was one as unlike steel columns these did not require painting on a regular basis. Another was architectural fashion and design; concrete could be moulded into so many shapes and forms and some eraly bracket designs were fanciful to the point of becoming ridiculed in the world of industrial design. This afflicted Stanton less than their great rival, Concrete Utilities of Ware, whose early works were quite something to behold! By the 1950s design had swung back to simplicity and utilty and Stanton's designs, like others, would mirror this shift. In addition the technology of production was better understood and so manufacturing became more economical in terms of materials. These were the inner steel wire and sections used to tension or stress the column with the concrete centrifugally spun around the 'outline' of the column in a mold.
In response to my childhood letter some kindly soul at Stanton photocopied pages from this earlier catalogue dating to around 1950; there are mentions of wartime damage to installations and the designs are before the early/mid 1950s simplification of columns and brackets that would be marketed as Stanton 8's and 9's. These are scans of photocopies and so can be a bit blurry but I think they are of enough interest to post here.
I have posted some single pages from this catalogue earlier and may now delete these older scans. Here we see what was to become a very common installation of B class lighting; the Stanton 7A column and bracket with a top entry lantern, in this case by GEC. It 'blends' into the suburban landscape of Clacton-on-Sea in Essex and would have been found in many UK streetscapes.