Guest skeets Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 Hi, Does anyone recall the lamplighter on his round, with his little red ladder, lighting the street gas lamps, he rested his ladder on the arm of the lamp wound up the clock to set the time for them to go off then lit the mantle, the lamps were always painted green, l remember when they were painting one year, and one of the gang slipped a frog in his paintpot, we beat a retreat to a safe distance, and watched as he bent to get it out [the frog] and it jumped up his trouser leg ,then we all burst out laughing. He gave chase but he did not know our escape route, a good job, he would have wrung the neck of the first one he caught, that paint was near the gas lamp for years. Skeets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gramps Posted January 19, 2009 Share Posted January 19, 2009 1932 ?....I think you're whistfully hoping there's anyone as old as you on here skeets I can remember the bloke re-setting the clocks in the gas lamps for BST - perhaps all the clocks were electric by that time - late 1940s ? Climbing a gas lamp and swinging on the arm was an initiation ceremony on our street. Once you had done it you were one of the 'in' crowd....and some girls would do it too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vox Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 No but I think there are the remains of a couple of (I think they were) sewer gas lamps at Crookes. Just like an ordinary one but with a fatter pole. These were still burning years after gas lamps were obsolete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HughW Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 This picture... ... is supposed to be of the last of the city's hand-lit lamps, in Fulton Road, Walkley. It is dated 1930. I believe I did indentify the location - the low building has gone but the house to the right is still there. Hugh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunsbyowl1867 Posted January 20, 2009 Share Posted January 20, 2009 No but I think there are the remains of a couple of (I think they were) sewer gas lamps at Crookes. Just like an ordinary one but with a fatter pole. These were still burning years after gas lamps were obsolete. Hi Vox see this thread on the same subject & a link to a sewer gas lamp web site - the things people get up to eh http://www.sheffieldhistory.co.uk/forums/i...06&hl=lamps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunsbyowl1867 Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Hi Vox see this thread on the same subject & a link to a sewer gas lamp web site - the things people get up to eh http://www.sheffieldhistory.co.uk/forums/i...06&hl=lamps Picture Sheffield link to a photo of a lamp cast at Attercliffe John M. Moorwood Ltd., Eagle Foundry, Stoke Street, Attercliffe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realmont Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Hi My Dad was a Lamplighter and he used to take me with him on his "round" when the weather was fine. The job was split shifts, with morning involving replacing the gas mantles as they burned out, winding and setting the clock then finishing by cleaning the glass. He had the ladders on one shoulder a haversack on the other with spare mantles clocks etc and a leather and scrim in his pockets. He finished this about lunch time then just before dark he would set off again with just the ladder walking his round to make sure all the lights were on. A tweak of the clock or a turn of the valve and all was light, the longest without light was about a hour, shades of today! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ponytail Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 Apparantly there are still Gas Lamplighters in London. https://thelondongasketeers.com/a-brief-history Gas Lights & Lamplighters 1807. "The Lamplighters acted as Night Watchmen and were for the most part considered very steady, trustworthy men." https://intriguing-history.com/gas-lights-lamplighters/ The Lamplighter who lit the early Gas Street Lamps. https://www.1900s.org.uk/lamp-lighter.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lysanderix Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 Reminds me of the 1960s song ” He made the night a little lighter wherever he did go the old lamp lighter of long long ago”. sorry about that!🙄🙄🙄 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busmansholiday Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 This a Google street view from two years ago just down from Malin Bridge School . I remember this being always lit back in the 60's and early 70's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lysanderix Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 I seem to recall that lamps of that design were intended to burn off sewer gas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemmy117 Posted March 10 Share Posted March 10 Here we go again, that old chestnut that Webb sewer lamps burnt sewer gas, they didn't, they burnt town gas and that ventilated the sewers. Attached is a document giving chapter and verse on how they worked. Also is a list of the ones still around in the 1970's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lysanderix Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 Thanks for that…fascinating….especially the list of sites….but there was a connection with sewers wasn’t there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemmy117 Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 Oh yes, there was a pipe up the lamp post that was connected to the sewer. When the town gas burned in the sealed lantern it drew the sewer gas up this pipe and vented the sewers this way. I'm not sure if they are still connected to the sewers, they may have been sealed off, certainly they are no longer required for their original purpose. About 20 years or so ago a few were reconnected to the normal gas supply and were lit, but I think they have now been switched off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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