Street Lamps

A letter appeared in the Preston Journal on 18 April 1807 from Miserabilis, who complained:
‘You must know, Sir, that 'tis within these six months that I came to reside in Preston, and from the social disposition of its inhabitants, am inclined to prolong my stay.’But, he went on: ‘The streets in most parts of the Town are so intolerably dark, that I was continually getting my shoes full of water, which God knows what may be its consequences. The medical men will tell you, that it will lead to colds, coughs, rheumatism, palsies, agues, asthmas, or consumptions; and I need not tell you Sir, that 'twill infallibly lead to medicines, doctors' bills, probably undertakers' shrowds, coffins, parsons, clerks, sextons, gravediggers, graves ... all this for the want of lamps in the streets.’Preston had tried. Back on the 22nd of December, 1699, the Corporation ordered— “ for the better going in the streets of this town, in the winter evenings, in the decrease of the moon or when cloude interfere, it has been thought necessary that some lamps or convex lights bee provided . And there being four such convex lights already bought, provided, and brought down from London... and the said four lights bee taken care of, attended, and supplied with oyle and other necessaries as occasion requires at the town's charge." The light they gave was reported as being wretched.It took the friendship between Preston's leading Roman Catholic churchman, Joseph Dunn, and the gas engineer, Samuel Clegg to change not only this state of affairs but also enabled Preston to be the first town outside of London to be lit by gas.
In 1815, the Preston Gas-Light Company was formed by Reverend Joseph "Daddy" Dunn, engineer Samuel Clegg, and local printer Isaac Wilcockson. Just one year later, in 1816, Fishergate became the first street in Preston to be illuminated by coal gas, transforming the town after dark.So how did they manage to light the lamps?
Work on the use of gas for lighting had been going on for several years prior to Preston getting involved. Possibly the most important was done at Stonyhurst College, a Catholic school just outside the town, where Clegg had, in 1808, used lime-water for purification of gas from sulphuretted hydrogen in large quantities.By its contract the gas company was required to light agreed areas more effectually than was done in other parts with oil lamps. The annual income from these lights was £162. The locations were to be determined by the commissioners. The lamps and lamp irons together with the pipes were to be one foot below the surface of the ground under each lamp were to be provided by the commissioners. The mention of lamp irons sounds as though lamp posts were intended, but the lamps were more probably secured to walls by brackets, which was the usual practice in the early days of gas-lighting.Now that the contract had been secured it was necessary to decide on a suitable site for the works. It should not be too far from the center of the town, and it should be on as low a level as possible to allow the gas to flow up into the town under its own pressure.It was one thing to make plans for buildings and to see that local craftsmen carried them out, quite another to secure the necessary apparatus when there were no established sources of supply near at hand. In September samples of brass burners, chandeliers, pendant lamps, wall brackets, plain pillars, a glass vases were ordered. Delays were not really exceptional. Even in the case of cast iron pipes, for which there had been an enormous demand during the previous decade from the metropolitan water works companies, delivery was slow and the quality variable. At one point they used as service pipes a supply of surplus musket barrels which were joined muzzle into breech.But they did succeed and the opening ceremony took place in Feb 1816 and to repeat, Preston became the first town outside of London to be lit by gas.Information on the above was taken from: 'The Introduction of Gas-Lighting to Preston' by Brian G. Awty and from Anthony Hewitson's Preston Chronology 705-1883.This is the first verse of a poem about the opening of Preston fm studios which used the Grade II listed building from 2008 to 2013.

Turning On St Wilfrid's School
Think of chalk
scraping down slate
a ten times table
and chairs scuffling
for the best view
of the Master blasted
over Pendle Hill
after turning on gas light
for the first time in Preston
the slight sigh of disappointment
lost in the hiss of history.
Thanks for reading, Terry Q Email ThisBlogThis!Share to XShare to Facebook