A History of Street Lighting in
the old and new towns of
Edinburgh World heritage site
Author:
Khrystyna Shakhmatova
In cooperation with: Krzysztof Jan Chuchra
Steve Francey
Based on original research by Andrew Kerr
CONTENTS
Foreword.....................................................................3
I. Oil Lighting.............................................................4
II. Arrival of Gas Lighting........................................10
III. Electricity Era.....................................................24
IV. Foundries............................................................29
V. “Conservation” Lighting Schemes......................30
Appendix .................................................................32
References................................................................34
2
FOREWORD:
The main author of this History of Street Lighting in Edinburgh‟s World Heritage Site was a Ukrainian student,
Khrystyna Shakhmatova, who came to Edinburgh World Heritage from Brandenburg University of Technology in
Cottbus, Germany, as an intern, in the summer of 2010. Supervised by Krzysztof Jan Chuchra, EWH‟s Urban Analyst, she revisited and expanded on the research which I had undertaken in connection with the Northumberland Street
lighting scheme as long ago as 1969-70 (see page 8). Much help was given by Steve Francey of the Council Lighting
Department.
The paper must be regarded as a draft, for several reasons. As stated on page 28, access to the reserve collections of
the National Museum of Scotland has been impossible recently owing to the major redevelopment of the Museum, but
should become possible during the next few months. Some interesting and relevant electrical equipment will be found
there, and also possibly in the collections of the Science Museum in London. As stated on page 17, measured drawings of the handsome gas lantern introduced in about 1860 are being produced in a collaboration between the Council
Lighting Department and the University of Edinburgh, but the project goes far further than that. The lantern, and the
earlier standard illustrated on page 16, are being modelled by Jonathan Knox, under the direction of Richard Coyne,
Professor of Architectural Computing at the University of Edinburgh, and the results will be fascinating. The computer modelling project will be completed within the next few months, and I expect to produce a final version of the
whole paper by the middle of this year.
ANDREW KERR
EWH Trustee 1999 to 2010
February 2012
3
I. Oil Lighting
„My tea is nearly ready and the sun has left the sky;
It‟s time to take the window to see Leerie going by;
For every night at teatime and before you take your seat,
With lantern and with ladder he comes posting up the street…‟
R.L. Stevenson
Pic. 1 One of many illustrations to R.L. Stevenson‟s book A Child's Garden of Verses - a scene from a lamplighter‟s
everyday life. Carrying a ladder in the right hand and a pot of oil in the left, the lamplighter would use these to fill up
the oil reservoir or cruse (recalling the biblical story of the widow‟s cruse of oil that supplied Elijah during a famine).
The wall-mounted oil lamp was a typical design widely used in Edinburgh Old Town starting from the 18th century.
Edinburgh Town Council, as predecessors of the City of Edinburgh Council, appointed the first public lamplighter
in the Old Town in 1701. This followed the issue of a Royal Charter in 1688, granted by King James II and VII. The
Charter empowered the Council to install lanterns where they considered it appropriate.
According to Charles Boog Watson‟s remarkable manuscript Notes on the history of Edinburgh, the earliest indication of public street lighting installation probably goes back as far as 1684, when the Lord Provost brought 24 lanterns from London to be fitted up in the High Street and Cowgate. This made these two the first streets in Edinburgh
to be lit with public street lighting.
Pic. 3 Original wall-mounted oil lamp, the globe later perforated
at the bottom to accept a gas pipe
Pic. 2 Advocate‟s Close, High Street, 1890
(c) Edinburgh City Libraries. Capital Collections www.capitalcollections.org.uk
4
Long before the implementation of the Royal Charter, starting from 1633, the Council issued an order that obliged
private citizens, primarily barbers, candle makers, apothecaries and taverners to hang candle lanterns outside their
doors from 5 pm to 9 pm, “save when the moon makes it unnecessary”.
In 1733 the Lord Provost was to purvey lamp glasses when in London. Consequently, fifteen lamp posts and 30
lamp glasses were shipped to Edinburgh the following year.
In 1742 the Council owned 99 lamps for streets and closes and 46 stoups (wooden posts) “for setting the lamps on”.
The number of lamps in the Old Town continued to increase over the next 50 years so that by 1786 the Council were
responsible for the maintenance of 307 lamps.
Though not coming from Edinburgh, the following illustration by William Pyne provides a deeper insight into what
the work of lamplighters may have looked at the beginning of the 19th century. The illustration is from „The Costume of Great Britain‟ published in 1808 in London. It shows a lamplighter up a ladder, holding the lid of a street
lamp in one hand while passing the centre of the lamp down to a young boy carrying a jug of oil. The centre of the
lamp most probably comprises a floating wick in a glass dish, with glass bullions (produced in huge numbers during
the manufacture of crown glass) arranged on each side. The whole thing was held together with wire and possibly
tin or tinplate. The bullions may have acted as crude lenses, making the light of the wick more visible along the line
of the street. The fact of a young boy‟s presence in both Pic. 1 and Pic. 4 gives an idea about the custom of lamplighters engaging young assistants in their work.
Pic. 4 William Pyne „Lamp lighter‟, 1808
Some private citizens made petitions requiring lantern installations in their streets. Thus, in 1761 citizens living in
the Grassmarket applied for more lamps. Two broken ones had to be repaired, and three new ones provided against
the next season, making twelve in total.
However, in 1764 two lamps from the Grassmarket were to be put „in the dark West Bow‟, which indicates the intention for more balanced and evenly spread improvements around the city.
5
Pic. 5 Old Assembly Rooms, West Bow, J. Scene,
1817
(c) Edinburgh City Libraries. Capital Collections
www.capitalcollections.org.uk
Pic. 6 View of West Bow, J. Scene, 1817
(c) Edinburgh City Libraries. Capital Collections www.capitalcollections.org.uk
By 1785, when much of the First New Town had been built, the Council had installed 116 lamps there, apparently
placed either on wooden posts attached to the railings or, as was common in the Old Town, on wall brackets.
1785 was also the year in which the Police Commissioners were established by Act of Parliament. Their responsibilities included lighting and cleaning the streets, and their proceedings were recorded in the Minutes of the General
Commissioners of Police, held in the City Archives. For many years, the Minutes included brief but regular reports
from the Lighting Committee, but in 1818, no doubt because of the prospect of introducing lighting by gas, the Committee seems to have become more active – so much so that it acquired a separate Minute Book in January 1820 - see
Pics. 11 and 12.
Pic. 7 Detail featuring original wall-mounted oil
lamp later converted to gas. In the background,
an early gas lamp with a square lantern on top,
Swarbreck, 1837
Pic. 8 Details featuring original railing-mounted oil lamps,
Shepherd, 1829
6
The Minutes tell us a lot about oil lighting.
The Committee agreed in August 1820 to divide the area within the Police Bounds “into two districts as equal as
possible”, east and west of a line from Canonmills to Minto Street, by way of Hanover Street, the Bridges and Clerk
Street, and appointed Contractors for each district, following a tendering process. It was agreed that the Lighting
Contract would include the following: “…the Contractor shall also furnish such new lamps with heads, cruses and
appurtenances complete as may be needed at the rate of XX each – the heads to be painted inside and outside with
not less than two coats of oil paint – globes not to be under 3lb weight – nor under eleven inches diameter. The
lamps, cruses and appurtenances to be delivered over to him in sufficient condition at the commencement of the
contract and he to furnish cellarage – keep, uphold and maintain them in the like condition during the currency
thereof and shall punctually replace upon his own expense every lamp that may be broken and that against the next
day after such lamp shall be so broken and at the expiry of the contract deliver over the whole in sufficient order
and condition”.
The Committee also agreed in August 1820 that “…the Contractor shall furnish the lamps with a sufficient quantity
of the best Greenland whale oil and two wicks of sixteen threads of the best Oxford cotton conform to specimen to
be produced – that he shall cause the lamps to be trimmed daily and the globes to be cleaned at least three times in
the week and for that purpose keep a sufficient number of hands”.
Although some of the oil certainly came from Dundee, most of it came from Hull, which at that time had 2,000 men
employed in the trade and could boast over 60 whaling vessels, making it the largest fleet in Britain. The best oil
was defined as „being the tops of the casks‟.
The intention in terms of the Contract was that the lamps should burn until 3 am. However, this was hard to achieve
with accuracy, as the Minutes of October 1820 show: “…let the same quantity of oil be put into any two lamps and
both equally trimmed by the most expert and experienced lamplighters, the one will continue burning from half an
hour to an hour longer than the other”.
Some residents found the wooden posts not elegant enough. In 1787 John Hunter, Writer to the Signet, became the
first resident to receive permission to replace the post outside his house at 4 Queen Street with an iron lamp standard
fixed to the railings. This inaugurated the installation of decorative wrought and cast iron standards in Edinburgh.
Later some other proprietors put up their own lamps. On the north side of Charlotte Square (and occasionally elsewhere) wrought iron standards of c. 1800 can be found. In 1953, reproductions of this design were erected along the
other three sides of the Square. Later, a simplified version was widely used elsewhere, notably on The Mound and in
the Moray Feu, Heriot Row and Calton Hill terraces. In Heriot Row a large cast standard of c. 1810 was put up privately in front of many of the houses, and in Queen Street a different, though similar, design was used. This latter
design was also used in Ann Street and in Howard Place, where the top section of it can be seen mounted on the
garden walls.
By 1819 the Council had begun to replace wooden posts with cast iron standards, initially erected by the Contractors
(„cast iron lamp pillars including lead, fixing and painting £1 6s. 0d. each‟ in 1819) but later by the Commissioners
themselves (14s. 6d. each from John Anderson‟s Leith Walk Foundry in 1820).
Only five of the 1819 standards now survive: on the north side of the Advocates' Library (visible from George IV Bridge), at 125 George Street, at 12/14
Stafford Street, and at 22 and 38 York Place. The last of these was originally
fitted with a linkhorn (used to extinguish the link boy‟s torch once he had escorted someone to the house), as Pic. 9 shows. The Charlotte Square standards
had linkhorns (though the later reproductions did not). The “Heriot Row” stan-
Pic.9 Linkhorn that used to be a part of
38 York Place lamp standard
(c) Stones and Curiosities of Edinburgh, G. A. Fothergill
7
The standard at 38 York Place was used as a pattern for the Northumberland Street lighting scheme in 1971. Unfortunately, due to the casting process, the blemish on the back, where the linkhorn had been attached, appeared on the
front of every copy, but better results were obtained thereafter using an aluminium pattern made from the standard at
125 George Street for the Edinburgh New Town Conservation Committee. Examples can be seen in Drummond
Place, Fettes Row, Royal Circus, India Street and the Raeburn Feu.
Wrought iron bracket attached to the
standard.
The triangular opening was filled in Northumberland Street, because of safety concerns, but left open on all subsequent reproductions.
Copper clips over the cope of the railing
are secured by nuts on the front of the
standard – back view
Pic. 10 Original cast iron standard at 38 York Place
Oil lighting can never have been very effective. Evidence of this can be found in the Minutes.
Pic. 11 Title page of Minutes of Committee of Commissioners of Police for the
Lighting Department 1820 – 1826
Pic. 12 From the Minutes of 14th January 1820
8
As can be read on Pic. 12: “…The Commissioners of the First Ward of Police, having this evening inspected all of
the lamps in their division, found the great proportion giving light so very feebly, there is evidently more management required, in the execution of this department….”
The Minutes continue: “Several of the lamps were out, and a number with only one wick burning, at the hour of ten
o‟clock. In the close from the West Bow to the Cowgate, the only access, without going round by the Grassmarket,
one lamp was amissing of the only two placed in that entry. As they consider this a most material approach in that
direction they would recommend three lamps, being well bestowed in this close, and the new one to be placed above
the few steps in the middle of it, as the great declivity must occasion frequent accidents from want of being guided
by light. Another lamp at the Corner of Mr. Main‟s the Stationers Shop, in West Bow would do good; and, there
being one in the close opposite where are very few Inhabitants, it is submitted whether it could not be better applied.”
It was also suggested that an Inspector “… going round at different times in the evening, and proving effectually,
might aid the measure very materially, as light there should be, and light there may be; for which only a little more
time and trouble (well applied) is required.”
Pic. 13 Steep crescent of West Bow, 1971
9
II. Arrival of Gas Lighting
Pic.14 Lamplighter on Victoria Terrace, c. 1930. Lamplighters were still a common sight in Edinburgh until the
1960s. This lamp standard still survives.
(c) Edinburgh City Libraries. Capital Collections www.capitalcollections.org.uk
Few knew that the solution for „brighter streets‟ was already on its way.
1792 was the year when the revolutionary idea of gas lighting was pushed forward by William Murdoch, who was
the first one to use coal gas for lighting his house in Redruth, Cornwall.
Gas lighting was first introduced to Edinburgh in 1819 by the erection of eighteen pillars (probably wooden posts)
for gas lamps on North Bridge.
10
This prominent event was preceded by the establishment of the Edinburgh Gas Light Company in 1817, north of the
Canongate.
Pic. 15 Canongate with its abundance of oil lamps, 1830
(c) Edinburgh City Libraries. Capital Collections www.capitalcollections.org.uk
In November 1819 the Committee had under its consideration the subject of lighting streets with gas and it resolved
that “…that part of the High Street from the Tron Church to the Parliament Close shall on both sides be forthwith
lighted with gas, and they have given directions that estimates of the expense be immediately obtained and submitted to them, that the measure may be carried into effect without delay.”
From a design point of view, the Old and New Towns used different strategies. While for the former it was common
to convert existing, mostly wall mounted, oil lamps to gas, in the New Town, on the contrary, new lamp standards
were erected.
In October 1820, the Minutes recorded that “a neat and very handsome pillar was provided as a pattern with a contrivance to embrace the cope of the railing without incumbering the pavements”, and this is referred to in the wonderfully detailed specification for the first gas standards on page 14. We do not know whether any were actually
mounted in this way, but in March 1824 the Minutes recorded that “…on account of numerous objections urged by
proprietors to placing irons on their railings, the Committee has found it necessary to order common oil pillars
mounted on wooden posts”. Nothing was said about the cause of the objections, but perhaps there were concerns
about safety. At all events, some other way of supporting the new standards had to be found, and consequently it
was agreed – possibly as early as December 1821, when the Committee agreed to “contract for the supply of stone
pillars for supporting the gas lamps” – to place them on the pavement, each one to be supported by a pall stone or
bollard.
Many of the pall stones are shown in Samuel Swarbreck's superb set of Edinburgh prints, dated 1837 - see Pics. 17
and 20. The specification for the lanterns, also on page 14, is also wonderfully detailed – “the ball on the top to
be...turned perfectly smooth for gilding...the whole to be...glazed with best crown glass”.
As gas lighting spread, the Council‟s short-lived oil standards were taken down, but the Council had no power to
remove private oil standards, as this indignant letter from Mary, Lady Clerk, 100 Princes Street, laid before the
Commissioners in October 1821, shows:
“Dear Sir, I beg leave to apologize for troubling you but have no other person to apply to, for a very impertinent
proceeding of the people who light the lamps (none of whom I know). Twice they have attempted to take down my
lamp posts – the first time I fortunately was walking before my door and instantly stopped them – but this morning
before I was awaked, they again came and was beginning; when my man servant, with the utmost difficulty prevented one of the posts being taken away. They might as well take down the door of my house being all my own
property and paid for with my own money – My fear is, when I am out of town some day they may steal them away,
and though I would prosecute them for theft – yet that would be troublesome, and as I choose when I have company
to have a light at each side of my door, I see no reason that these most impudent and impertinent people are to prevent me. I beseech you tell me how to act, or rather act for me to prevent their insolence in future. I am Dear Sir
Your obliged friend. (signed) Mary Clerk... To Capt. Brown, Police Office.”
11
The third specification on page 14 is for the provision of circular lanterns with glass globes „and tinplate heads‟ for
wall mounting. Note that if existing oil lanterns were to be converted to gas, estimates were wanted "for perforating
the bottoms of the globes with a cutter 5/8 in: diam., and punching a sufficient number of holes into the old rims to
admit air". Pic. 7 shows this well.
On the following print one can see an abundance of lamps – oil on the left and gas on the right.
Pic. 16 South Bridge, Swarbreck 1837
In depicting the North Bridge (Pic.17) Swarbreck included both designs – globes with gas fittings on wooden posts
attached to the bridge wall, on the left, and lanterns on cast iron pillars supported by pall stones, on the right.
Pic. 17 North Bridge Street, Swarbreck, 1837
12
Gas lighting was considered a great wonder, „most beautiful and brilliant‟ as expressed by the Scottish writer
George Combe. “What a folly, to have a diamond necklace or a Correggio, and not to light your house with gas”,
thought the writer and poet Sydney Smith in 1820.
Further undertaking included “…taking down 27 oil lamps from the High Street, to remove the whole from the North
Bridge and that the nineteen globes used on High Street last season be replaced or lighted with gas light single jet
burners – that the lanterns be fitted to the pillars on the North Bridge and supplied with large batwing burners.”
According to the data submitted to the Lighting Department for the month of May 1820 the total number of lamps
was 4781, of which 1980 were gas lit.
The specification one on page 14 included provision for a batwing burner, and in September 1820 it was agreed that
"large batwings be substituted in place of the small ones presently in use at the corners of the South and North
Bridges, and corner of High Street".
Pic. 18 Evolution of gas lighting burners, William Sugg & Co.
(c) William Sugg & Co. www.williamsugghistory.co.uk
Pic. 19 Flat-flame or Batwing burner
(c) Clipart ETC. www.etc.usf.edu
13
Specifications of cast iron pillars, lanterns and lamps for burning gas by the Commissioners of Police for the city of
Edinburgh, October 1820
Pillars with Gas Fittings
The pillars to be cast in three pieces;
The lower part in two-halves so as to embrace
the cope (which must not be cut) of the railing;
The two halves to be carefully dressed so that
the joint may not be observed;
Each half to have a batt at the base;
The body to be joined and kept together with not
less than two double keyed bolts, and dressed
clean off;
The upper part to be cast in one with a faucet of
three inches at the bottom to fit inside of the
lower part;
A faucet of 3/8 inch at the top to keep the cross
in its proper place – the lower end of the upper
part to be turned perfectly true;
The top of the lower part to be dressed off;
So that the whole may have the appearance of a
solid casting when fitted together which must be
done by 4 malleable iron keys;
The cross upon which the lantern rests, to be
fixed on the top of the pillar with not less than 2
screw bolts;
The top of the curb stone where the pillars are
fixed must be brought down to a level;
A hole is to be made through the stone by a 1inch jumper to admit the gas pipe.
The gas to be introduced into the lantern by
means of a copper tube 3/8 inch diameter with
the necessary brass coupling screws;
Passing from the end of the service pipe
through the curbstone and pillar;
It will be fixed by means of a plate fitted on the
tube in the recess formed in the centre of the
cross;
The cross must be filled up with melted lead;
Above that a brass screw socket, hard soldered
to the end of the tube must project;
Upon this a brass stop cock with a brass tube
and a socket to hold the batwing burner will be
fitted.‟
Lanterns
Top and bottom frames to be
cast each in one piece;
The ribs also to be cast and to
have malleable tangs 1/4 in
square, hard soldered into the
ends for the purpose of riveting
the whole together, previous to
which the ends must be filed off
to the proper level, so that the
joining may not be observed;
The door to be cast in one piece
and to be fitted on in the same
way as the pattern The top of the
lantern to be made of tinplate,
not less than XXX in strength,
with a black iron plate riveted
inside to preserve the upper part
from the effects of the burner
acting upon it;
The ball on the top to be of
coarse tin cast and turned perfectly smooth for gilding;
The whole to be japanned outside and inside – glazed with
best crown glass.
And fixed to the top of the pillar,
by 4 screw bolts and nuts, and in
every respect to be finished same
as the pattern.
Globes with Gas Fittings
The globes to be made of good glass
12 in: diameter and 12 in: deep, with
a perforation in the bottom 5/8 inch
diam., and to weigh not less than 4
pounds each;
To be set in a rim of tinplate with 3
triangles in each to support them in
the iron;
The heads to be made of tinplate not
less than XX in strength and to be
painted outside and inside with not
less than 2 coats of good oil colour;
The gas to be conveyed from the
screw cap of the iron service pipe
until it reaches the globe by a copper
tube 3/8 inch: diam., inside and the
bottom of the globe by a tube ¼ in
diam.;
The pipe for each globe to be fitted
with a stop cock for the gas, brass
socket for the jet burner with a stop
cock connected to run off any water
that may lodge under the burner
together with the necessary brass
coupling screws similar to those now
in use in the High Street;
In the event of the globes presently in
use being applied to lighting with
gas, estimates are wanted for perforating the bottoms of the globes with
a cutter 5/8 in: diam., and punching
a sufficient number of holes into the
old rims to admit air.
Pic. 20 Regent Bridge, Swarbreck, 1837
14
In December 1821 the Committee decided that from 1 st January 1822 the public gas lamps should be lit at one hour
after sunset – that the one half be extinguished at three o‟clock am, and the remainder continued till one hour before
sunrise.
The lighting installations continued around the city in the following years.
In August 1822 it was resolved by the Committee that the following streets be lighted with gas without delay with
the following number of lamps:
St. Andrew Streets and Square
St. David's Street
Hanover Street – South
Frederick Street
Castle Street
Greenside Street
North Bridge Street
39
7
14
14
14
36
38
Total - 162
In May 1822 the state of street lighting during the previous two years was analysed.
September 1820 to May 1821
September 1821 to May 1822
Oil lamps – 4765, Gas lamps – 37
Total - 4802
Oil lamps – 4731, Gas lamps – 408
Total – 5339
Making an annual increase of 537
Clearly, supporting standards on pall stones could only be temporary, and in September 1827 a sketch of a new gas
pillar drawn by William Burn, the leading Scottish architect of the day, was submitted to the Committee and preferred over other designs.
The specification for the new standard was agreed in December 1827: “The pillars to be cast in best number 2 pig
iron with a smooth skin, without blemishes or defects, and in all respects equal to the casting exhibited in the Police
office… The malleable iron work to be of best English iron, and finished at least as well as the pattern, must have a
coat of linseed oil laid over it when hot from the forge, to prevent the formation of rust…The fitting of the globe iron
at the top to be correctly made, and to stand fair and true on the shaft. The fitting of the shaft to the pedestal to be
fair and solid, and the hammered iron key to be adjusted exactly to the proper length. The whole work to be done in
such a way that the Police Establishment shall not be put to any expense in after adjustment, and the Inspector of
Police to be at liberty to reject any pillar, which he may conceive to be defective in any particular, or in any way
inferior to the casting in the Police office. The contractor to bore the holes in the stone for fixing the batts of the
pedestal – to deliver them in such numbers as may be required, and to batt them properly in with lead wherever they
may be wanted within the police bounds, and to paint them when fitted up with two coats of oil paint of any colour
that may be required. The pattern to be furnished by, and to be the property of, Police Establishment”.
Square stone blocks with five holes (four near the corners, where batts or lugs on the cast iron standard were secured
to the base, and one in the middle, where the gas pipe came up) as mentioned in the specification can still be found.
Pic. 21 A square block in Nelson Street, 2010
Note how it sits forward of the line of the kerb.
Pic. 22 A square block in Dean Terrace, 2010
Fragments of batts or lugs from the standard broke off
when it was removed, and remain in the block.
15
0
Pic. 23 The Royal Institution (later the Royal Scottish Academy and now part of the Scottish National
Gallery) and Princes Street with standards by William Burn, Swarbreck, 1837
Remarkably, some of these very standards have survived, and until recently two could be seen in the garden of the
Museum of Edinburgh at 142-146 Canongate. They will be re-erected shortly, nearby. The Commissioners had decided in October 1827 to have street names cast in raised letters on the ladder bars. The first circular lantern had a
tall chimney, but this design was superseded in about 1860 by one with a glazed upper section – which is represented by the modern reproductions around the Scottish National Gallery, and elsewhere.
The decorative finial was made of glass – described as a “crystal knob” in the Holyrood Glassworks catalogue (Pic.
25).
Ladder-bar with cast Princes Street
Pic.24 Museum of Edinburgh, original fluted standards designed by William Burn (with later lanterns).
The square bases (see Pic.23) are not visible because they have been buried.
Nothing is said in the Minutes about paint colours, but recent research by Michael Pearce of Historic Scotland suggests that dark grey (white-lead oil paint loaded with carbon black pigment) was used initially, superseded by dark
green from around 1890 and a lighter shade of green from around 1920.
16
Pic, 25 Lantern with crystal knob on top from the Holyrood
Glassworks catalogue
Pic. 26 The Heart of Midlothian, looking up the Lawnmarket, J. Patrick, c. 1883
(c) Edinburgh City Libraries. Capital Collections www.capitalcollections.org.uk
Measured drawings of this lantern are being produced in a collaboration between the Council Lighting Department
and the University of Edinburgh, the intention being to have accurate reproductions made and installed in appropriate streets. A globe from one of these lanterns has fortunately survived (Pic. 28). It is much more substantial than
the modern perspex reproductions would suggest, weighing 7lbs 6oz (3.35 kg) and with a diameter of 11 ins (12 ¼
ins at the rim). Note the second hole drilled near the base, through which the lamplighter would push his spirit
torch, on the end of a pole.
17
Pic.27 Princes Street from the west, G.W. Wilson, 1866
(c) Edinburgh City Libraries. Capital Collections www.capitalcollections.org.uk
Pic.28 Globe from a gas lantern, c. 1900
(c) Mr Purves‟ Lighting Emporium, Edinburgh
18
Pic.29 York lantern by William Sugg & Co., c. 1850
(c) William Sugg & Co. www.williamsugghistory.co.uk
Pic.31 York lantern with two gas mantles by
William Sugg & Co., Yorkshire Museum, York, 2010
Pic.30 A modern wall-mounted lantern, similar to the York lantern,
Circus Lane, Edinburgh, 2010
Pic.32 York lamp with eight gas mantles and
gilded decoration, York Minster, York, 2010
Note that the little spikes on the upper corners of the York lantern were not part of the Edinburgh design.
Pic.33 An Edinburgh gas lantern, converted to electricity
but still in use, in Belgrave Mews, 2010
19
In 1827 the Committee accepted that globes for new gas lamps were preferable to lanterns. The decision was made
after the stormy night of 7th December of the same year, “as in the exposed situation of Atholl Crescent, not one
[globe] was blown out, while in York Place, which is better protected, most of them [ie lanterns] were extinguished”.
By 1826 most of the New Town streets, as well as Leith Walk and Lothian Road, were gas-lit. By 1847 there were
as many as 761 public gas lamps in Edinburgh.
In 1856 an Act of Parliament was passed returning the functions of lighting and cleaning from the Police Commissioners to the Town Council. At this time, a Lighting and Cleaning Department was formed.
Incandescent gas mantles were invented in 1885 and by 1895 were reasonably cheap. In Edinburgh, incandescent
mantles, in the four-sided lanterns that many of us remember, were fitted between 1900 and 1907 and in all new
lamps thereafter.
Pic.34 Early Incandescent Burner c. 1890 and a later Inverted Burner c. 1900 by William Sugg & Co.
(c) William Sugg & Co. www.williamsugghistory.co.uk
Pic. 35 Ainslie Place, 1940
20
Pic 36. India Place, gas light fitting with fluted column and square base in the background, c. 1960
(c) Edinburgh City Libraries. Capital Collections www.capitalcollections.org.uk
Pic. 37 India Place, more gas light fittings in the background, 1958. Within the lantern can be seen the mechanical
stop cock, introduced in 1928 and wound weekly, which turned the gas on and off, the timing being adjusted with
the seasons. A pilot light burned continuously.
21
Pic.38 Lantern interior. Note the mechanical stop cock, open to show how the timing was adjusted with the seasons. The gas pipe
in the centre leads to the pilot light. City Museum Collections Centre, 2010.
22
Pic.39 Some standards were made taller by adding a simple extension device, seen here in Drummond Place
Crown Copyright: RCAHMS. Licensor www.rcahms.gov.uk.
On 21st April 1965 a small ceremony organized by the City Council was held in Ramsay Garden, at which the last
gas lamp in Edinburgh was turned off.
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III. Electricity Era
Already in 1831 Michael Faraday made the first dynamo which was to lead to the supply of cheap electricity.
Electricity arrived in Edinburgh first in 1881 with the trial installation of electric street lighting in Princes Street,
Waverley Bridge and North Bridge.
In 1895 the first electric power station was established at Dewar Place. In 1898-99 McDonald Road Power Station was
built for Edinburgh Corporation Electricity Department to complement the existing power station in Dewar Place, and
supplied electricity to domestic, commercial and industrial consumers, and for street lighting. The decision to build a
second power station indicated the growing scale and great expectations of electric lighting in the city.
Pic. 40 McDonald Road Power Station, 1900
(c) Nick Haynes: nick.haynes@yahoo.com
Pic. 41 Former McDonald Road Power Station, 2010
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The process of conversion of the City's lighting from gas to electricity circa 1900:
Pic.42 Conversion to electricity on the streets of Edinburgh
(c) Nick Haynes: nick.haynes@yahoo.com
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The innovation appealed to citizens who could enjoy safe and well-lit streets, as this contemporary verse from the
Braw Lights of Tomintoul shows!
„When o‟er our hills came lines with power,
It was indeed our brightest hour;
With fourteen lamps our street is bright,
A pleasure now to walk by night‟
Pic. 43 Title page of the annual Report of the Edinburgh
Cleaning and Lighting Department for the year ending
15th May 1905.
According to the annual Report of the City of Edinburgh Lighting and Cleaning Department for the year ending 15 th
May 1913 “For the public street lamps both gas and electricity are employed, the former by means of inverted incandescent burners, and the latter almost wholly in the form of arc lamps situated on the tramway routes and main
thoroughfares.”
Early street lighting by electricity involved arc lamps, their typical shape being due to the mechanism which created
or “struck” and thereafter maintained the arc between two carbon electrodes. They produced a brilliant light, but
were expensive and troublesome to maintain.
Pic. 44 Enclosed Arc Lamp, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1926
(c) www.britannica.com
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According to the annual Report of the City of Edinburgh Lighting and Cleaning Department for the year ending 15 th
May 1905 “The municipal reputation of Edinburgh has been greatly increased by its management of the electric
light, the success of which has been quite phenomenal.”
And in the later annual Report of the City of Edinburgh Lighting and Cleaning Department for the year ending 15 th
May 1912 it was stated that “Edinburgh, with the Electric Lighting of its main thoroughfares and car routes; its
Incandescent illumination of its other streets, courts and closes, and its stair lights burning from sunset to sunrise,
has attained general lighting conditions which commanded the approbation of the citizens, and drew forth the commendation of visitors and municipalities.”
According to the same Report: “The waste of lighting plant is very considerable, arising not so much from ordinary
tear and wear, but through carts and other vehicles coming into collision with the lamps, and also not infrequently
through malicious mischief on the part of idle boys and night marauders.
Breakages are from these causes very frequent, the replacing of the damaged or broken lanterns and pillars representing a considerable annual expenditure.”
Mackenzie Brothers, later Mackenzie & Moncur, were Edinburgh iron founders and heating engineers. They were
general manufacturers of cast iron goods but their distinctive lighting standards, which came out initially in the
1890s (they can be dated reasonably accurately from pictures of the Edinburgh tramway system) have proved very
long lived. Quite a lot are still in use today in Edinburgh, Westminster and Southport.
Despite the fact that Mackenzie Bros were operating in several regions across the United Kingdom, Edinburgh
probably had more Mackenzie standards than anywhere else and quite a number remain.
Pic.45 Original arc lamp on the North Bridge, c. 1900
(c) Edinburgh City Libraries. Capital Collections
www.capitalcollections.org.uk
Pic.46 Reproduction arc lamp on the North Bridge, 2010
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Some subsequent important landmarks were:
1958
First phase street lighting improvement programme begun: 22,028 gas lamps to be removed and superseded by sodium discharge lamps.
1964
Second phase street lighting improvement programme approved: 95 miles of traffic routes to be relit.
1968
In conjunction with the Department of the Environment, a programme of relighting all major traffic routes
was begun, using 10m steel columns with 2.5m brackets housing 180w low pressure sodium lamps. All
major routes were completed by 1973.
Unfortunately, no detailed records have survived, but some interesting equipment – notably a number of arc lamps –
exists in the reserve collections of the National Museum of Scotland. Access to these collections has been impossible recently owing to the major redevelopment of the Museum, but should be possible during the first half of 2012.
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IV. Foundries
Two iron foundries are still active in the Edinburgh area – Charles Laing & Sons Ltd, at Beaverbank Place, near
Canonmills, and Ballantine Bo‟ness Iron Co Ltd, at Bo‟ness, on the Forth estuary. Both have a long history and
produce work of the highest quality, Laings specialising in smaller items and Ballantine‟s in larger, though there is a
broad overlap. The following photographs were taken on a visit to Ballantine‟s foundry in June 2010.
The process of metal casting in the foundry consists of the following main steps:
Pic.47 Iron being collected for melting down by magnetic crane
Pic.49 A greensand mould being prepared
Pic.48 Molten iron in the electric furnace
Pic.50 Molten iron being poured
Pic.51 A line of moulds cooling down
The early shift usually prepares the moulds and sees the iron poured. The late shift removes the castings for finishing, and leaves everything ready for the early shift the next day, so it all follows a daily cycle.
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V. “Conservation” Lighting sChemes
Most of the cast iron lamp standards in Ann Street are replicas erected by the Ann Street Society between 1957 and
1960. Some of the original standards in poor condition were replaced, and replicas were added in order to make up
the number required for electric lighting, which was introduced when the pavement-mounted gas lamps were removed in 1963. Electric imitation oil lamps were fitted to the standards by the Corporation.
Later, this formula was followed elsewhere, notably in Northumberland Street in 1971 (see page 8).
The most recent such scheme was carried out in Lynedoch Place in 2007. Ann Street and Lynedoch Place are by the
same architect (James Milne) and have front gardens with low walls, surmounted by railings, along the pavement, as
does Howard Place (by James Gillespie Graham). Ann Street and Howard Place both have wall-mounted lamp standards for oil lamps, and this was ample justification for reproducing the same design for Lynedoch Place. Fortunately, Ballantine‟s already had an aluminium pattern for the full-height standard of which the wall-mounted standard forms the upper section (Pic.52).
Pic.52 Aluminium pattern used for the production of lighting standards for Lynedoch Place in 2007
One full height standard and nine wall-mounted standards were required, and the lanterns were all connected to a
single timeswitch.
The estimated cost of £30,000 was divided equally between the residents, EWH and the City Council, with the
Council also agreeing to cover any overspend.
This elegant and successful scheme, part of a larger programme of improvements, is clearly visible on a major traffic route.
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Pic.53 Lighting standards installed on Lynedoch Place, LDN Architects
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Appendix
Statement and Recommendations for Historic Street Lighting
This statement was prepared by Edinburgh World Heritage in 2011 in order to inform the forthcoming City of Edinburgh Council‟s lighting strategy, which amongst a number of issues regulates management of historic street lighting in the World Heritage Site. The statement is one of the outcomes of the study in hand and its main function is to
inform the planning policy by explaining the importance of street lighting in the context of the Old and New Towns
of Edinburgh World Heritage Site‟s Outstanding Universal Value. This refers to the recognition given by the policy
ENV 1 of the Edinburgh City Local Plan.
Introduction
Historic street lighting forms an integral part of Edinburgh's streetscape, which is one of the defining elements of the
World Heritage Site's Outstanding Universal Value. Its historic quality significantly contributes to the historic atmosphere of the city, contributing to its overall historic authenticity and integrity, setting it apart from other cities
which have not retained their historic detail. Despite significant urban changes in Edinburgh following the development of the New Towns, the principles of the street lighting have not changed significantly; however a slightly different approach had to be applied in the city's juxtapositioned townscapes respecting scale, architectural context and
order.
Lighting perception
How we now see the buildings and streets of the World Heritage Site at night is very different to the original intention. The original oil lanterns would have lit doors, steps, and some of the façade in a very limited way only. Nowadays the street lighting restores the day time appearance of the World Heritage Site more accurately than that at
night because the modern lanterns produce more light than the original ones in order to meet a broad range of modern standards. The lighting of the streets and spaces of the World Heritage Site has a bearing on the authenticity and
integrity of the Site beyond the physical form of the street lamps.
Lighting position
The positioning of the lighting plays a role in the way the streets are experienced. Every street is different in terms
of scale, architectural character and function; however in the case of replacement street lighting, good conservation
practice encourages identification of the original approach to a particular street, especially the type of overall design
originally intended for the street such as the painting scheme, the type of lanterns and their position relative to adjacent architecture. In the Old Town, the general approach has been to illuminate the wider streets by means of high
level lighting fixed to the buildings, with wall-mounted reproduction gas lanterns in the narrow closes and wynds .
In the New Town, the general approach has been to use railing-mounted lamps comprising reproduction oil lanterns
on standards made of mild steel (copying wrought iron originals) or (more authentically) cast iron. Reproduction gas
lanterns have also been used in the lanes but lighting schemes using this type of lantern on pavement-mounted on
standards are still being developed. Lighting schemes for streets of the New Town should take into consideration the
relationship of the position of the lighting to building facades, especially palace frontages, which are one of the most
distinctive architectural attributes of the New Town. Also it has to be emphasised that in the original streets railing
mounted lighting did not add clutter and maintained long views, vistas and the surrounding architecture in contrast
to standards placed on the pavement.
Painting
Initially dark grey was predominantly used in painting lamp standards (white lead oil paint loaded with carbon black
pigment). This was superseded by dark green from around 1890 and a lighter shade of green from around 1920. In
modern times this has been gradually replaced by gloss black everywhere in Edinburgh. Currently most of the street
lighting as well as the railings in Edinburgh are painted in black and it would be rational to continue this approach,
unless there are practical architectural set pieces where evidence of the original colour schemes can be found.
The relatively good state of the conservation of the World Heritage Site is not currently followed by a similar state
of conservation of the historic street lighting, as not much original material has survived. Only 30-40 original railing
mounted lamp standards remain, of which about half have been re-used. In addition, no original lanterns have survived, apart from later gas examples. On the other hand, very effective lighting schemes have been created by using
reproduction lanterns and standards. It is recommended that a strategic view be taken of this issue in order to improve the state of authenticity and integrity of the World Heritage Site by raising awareness on the importance of
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appropriate maintenance of the historic street lighting in terms of appropriate repair and treatment. This is particularly
important in the case of surviving original material.
Krzysztof Jan Chuchra
Edinburgh World Heritage
August 2011
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References:
Boog Watson, C. Notes, Vol 5 p. 233-238, Vol 15 p. 67. Edinburgh and Scottish Collection, Edinburgh Central Library
Davey, B. Heath, D. Hodges, M. Ketchin, R.Milne. The Care and Conservation of Georgian Houses. A maintenance
manual for Edinburgh New Town. 4th Ed., 1995. Oxford, Architectural Press, an imprint of Butterworth-Heinemann,
p.256-258
Irvine, J. Poems of Avonside.1951. Proceeds in aid of Tomintoul Street Lighting Fund
Kerr, A. Transcript of Andrew Kerr‟s handwritten notes on oil and gas lighting and the Northumberland Street scheme.
1971. Edinburgh World Heritage
Mackay, G. Report of the Edinburgh Cleaning and Lighting Department for the year ending 15 th May 1905. 1905. Edinburgh, Geo. Stewart & Co.
Mackenzie & Moncur, Mackenzie Bros . History (no date) [online] Available from: http://www.simoncornwell.com/
lighting/manufact/mb/history.htm [Accessed 10th August 2010]
Minutes of Committee of Commissioners of Police for the Lighting Department 1820-1826. Edinburgh City Archives
SURVEYOR 4 February 1972 by George Benn, Assistant City Engineer, Westminster, p.38-39
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