74. Exeter Bridge, City Centre. On each of the pillars on the bridge are a couple of very old ornamental bronze lanterns. (Except on one pillar, where there is only one due to the other sadly being stolen.) They are believed to pre-date 1929 when the bridge was rebuilt, and may have been either gas or even candle lights when first used. In the past they have been fitted with 100w tungstens, but now use 100w mercury blended lamps. They were switched from the cell on the lantern mounted on the nearest column to each pillar, but the problem was that the main lantern ran a 400w lamp, and so the extra 100w load was too much for many cells, and they repeatedly went dayburning. This was eventually solved by installing Horstmann K Mk 2A part night time switches in the bases of the columns, and using them to power the ornamental lanterns.
The photographs show one of the lanterns on the pillar nearest to Derby's old Magistrates Court:
© 2002-2008 Mike Barford