Bawnmore Road, Cawston, Overslade, Bilton, Rugby, Warwickshire With thanks to 'Aleksander' for informing me of this Survivor. Still extant along this road in May 2026 was a 15 ft (5 m) AEI / Thorn 'Leader 15ST' triangular-based aluminium column, featuring a distinctive up-tilting angular bracket and GEC Z9532 lantern, for 35 Watt SOX (low pressure sodium) lamps. No other columns of this design now survive along the road; however, historical Google Street View imagery indicates that many were still present along here in 2012, with these fitted with Z9532s also - therefore, the GEC lanterns could be original to when the columns were installed, or could have served as bulk replacements of the original lanterns.

Thanks to the non-rusting properties of aluminium, the column and bracket still look relatively clean and new, despite being likely to be over 50 years old when photographed.

The brackets are a very quirky design that could only ever have been thought up in the 1960s.

A Telensa Telecell CMS node now operates the lantern, replacing an earlier photocell control, which itself may have been installed to dispose of time switch control. As the Z9532 features an aluminium canopy, along with a full-length gear tray / reflector above the lamp, and polycarbonate bowl (replacing the original 1960s' Perspex design), it probably dates to around the mid-1970s - the aluminium canopy changing to GRP at the end of that decade.

The lamp looks rather worn, and may not be operational after nightfall any longer.

The original column door has had to be replaced with a steel one at some point.

Although not as old as the previous installation was, two 5 m hockey stick columns positioned alongside a signalised pedestrian crossing still supported Thorn Beta 79 lanterns at this time - despite being a "modern" lantern to my mind, LED replacements have seen numbers of these lanterns dwindle considerably.

This Beta 79 retains its photocell control; in this case, the photocell is a Zodion product.

< Previous | Next >

BACK TO SURVIVORS IN WARWICKSHIRE

BACK TO SURVIVORS

CLICK HERE TO MAKE A MONETARY DONATION