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Webb Patent Sewer Gas Destructor Lamps


RichardB

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I think there a 2 lamps that are lit, Brincliffe Edge Road and Frog Walk. It was a right problem to get them reconnected. I'm not sure what the position is now, the council have hived off the maintenance to Amey, not sure if they were included in the maintenance contract.

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Hi Pola

Got that one thanks.

Just up the page 2nd post

It could do with a coat of paint.

vox

I was on Stewart Road today (not drainspotting, definitely not) and the lamp at the top is still burning and has had a lovely fresh coat of paint. Has this always worked, or has it been renovated at some point? If so is it privately owned? It is quite something to see it working and i may go back at night to take a pic as i don't live too far away.

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If I remember rightly it was adopted at some point by the residents, who undertook to keep it in good order. I couldn't say if that is still the case.

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I think they have to keep some for re-use in certain areas, but the rest will probably go for scrap. Before AMEY took over the remaining ones in the yard were put up for tender to remove, can't remember who got them but they went for a song.

Nigel L

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I was clearing out some paperwork over Christmas and happened upon a (very poor) photocopy of a short paper on Webb lamps I got from work in the mid '70's. I tried scanning it but it is virtually unreadable, so I've typed it out as a PDF. Also on it is a (complete?) list of the ones in Sheffield at that time.

Enjoy!

Nigel L

Webb Sewer Lamp.pdf

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 Just had a recent email with some details in if anyone is interested - apologies if already known about

Lyn

Joined up Heritage events 
*Heritage Gas Lamps*

The Council and Amey are proposing to refurbish Sheffield's internationally important collection of J E Webb Sewer Gas Destructor Lamps.  It is good news that nearly all original components will be retained, that the four which currently burn gas will continue to do so, and that most of the remaining lamps will be capable of being restored to gas-burning in the future.  The Council's Conservation team have done a superb job in recognising the importance of the lamps and setting a high standard for their refurbishment, Highways have responded flexibly, and Amey have produced an ingenious and innovative solution.

Webb lamps are rare, those burning gas are rarer still.  The Council will maintain the four gas-burning lamps, but do not have the funds to bring any others back to gas operation.  Several other lamps have this capability: 18 were converted to natural gas in the early 1980s, many were working when listed in 1995, and gas is still laid on in some cases.  It may be possible for neighbourhood groups to fund gas operation, if the cost is reasonable.

Does JUH have contacts in neighbourhood groups with an interest in heritage who might consider this for the lamps in their area, if I can get a sensible cost estimate from the Council?

Best regards, J Robin Hughes: robin@robinandsheila.net

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I have seen two lamps being renovated recently. One just off London Rd and one outside Jessop's Hospital. They are a deep green which is also the colour of a maintained example on Stewart Rd in Sharrow Vale, so I guess this was their original look?

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On 16/01/2017 at 09:31, Calvin72 said:

I have seen two lamps being renovated recently. One just off London Rd and one outside Jessop's Hospital. They are a deep green which is also the colour of a maintained example on Stewart Rd in Sharrow Vale, so I guess this was their original look?

There was one at the junction of Hunterhouse Road and Psalter Lane which l passed every day from 1942 till l left Sheffield in 1954. That and the others dotted about were all painted the same deep green as the ordinary gas lamps. 

One odd thing sticks in my mind is that during the war the top half of the glass was obscured.so the odd passing German aircraft would not see the light which never went out unlike the gas lamps which did during the small hours.

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The blackout was policed to an extent which , these days, we might find slightly ridiculous...eliminating all possible visual aids/ guidance to enemy aircraft ( and Sheffield had more than the "odd" one flying over) was deemed essential.

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On 7/17/2013 at 17:47, walkure said:

There used to be one at the bottom of Handsworth Hill in Darnall on the right hand side as you approached the Junction with Prince of Wales Road just outside what if I remember correctly was a newsagents ( though I can't remember the name of it). There was also a Dentist

My maternal Grandmother lived at Darnall (On Brittania Road) and 2 of my Great Aunts and a second cousin lived in three little 2 up 2 down terraced houses who's back gardens were entered by a gate in Beighton Street ( There front doors led straight into a small front area ( garden would be too grand a word to describe it) on Handsworth Hill. As a small child I remember that most of Darnall was still lit with Gas lamps and every evening at Dusk the lamp lighter would come round and light them all.

 

My mother used to live on Beighton Street during the war years (and before, but not sure of the dates) so may have known your relations. I believe their house backed on to Car Brook. There was a dentist on the corner of Beighton Street and Main Road (Handsworth Hill as you call it) with the newsagents in the corner at the side of Car Brook. In between (as I remember it was a garage (next to the newsagents) and I think there was a house between the garage and the dentist. 

I may be wrong here but I think the dentist was Mr Bentall. The practice moved across the road, still there but under different name, just above Waverley Road next to the tattoo shop.

 

On 7/29/2013 at 12:13, Waterside Echo said:

post-4985-0-43086900-1375096340_thumb.jpg There you go! Darnall 1980. And no, its not a "slot meter" at the side of it. W/E.

 

Yes that's the one, with Tesco's in the background. May be my memory playing tricks or that the junction was widened but I have the memory of it being further back from the road beside the entrance to the newsagents and a wall alongside Car Brook.

 

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The road was widened several times over the years, eventually at the last junction improvement scheme it had to be moved. I posted before on the trials and tribulations involved with it, eventually it cracking when being lifted into its new position after being in store!

Nigel L

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