Here are a few fascinating facts about London Gas Lamps
- In London, there are 1500 gas lamps left. They don’t require lighting every night, but the timer that automatically turns on the lights needs to be adjusted every two weeks to account for shorter or longer days.
- Prior to the invention of timers, lamps were ignited by an 8-foot brass pole with a pilot light; this method was abandoned in Temple in 1976.
- Thanks to Frederick Winsor, gas lights first arrived in Pall Mall in 1812; at initially, wooden gas lines were used. Unfortunately, this led to numerous explosions and a few fatalities.
- The initials of George IV are engraved on several of the older lamps along Carlton House Terrace.
- The cloisters of Westminster Abbey are gas-lit. The earliest lamp is mounted to a wall in Dean’s Yard, close to the group entrance. This has been used as an oil lamp and a gas lamp for 200 years, respectively.
- The Mall has gas lights on the St. James’s Palace side, which is the old road, and electric lighting on the park side.
- Modern gas lamps are located close to the Queen Mother statue, which was dedicated in 2009. The Royal family declined to use electric lighting because “the Royal family is strongly pro-gas.”
- British Gas is informed several months in advance of state visits since the bulbs near Buckingham Palace are changed to operate round-the-clock during the visit.
- Near Trafalgar Square, a new row of lighting has been installed. An antique cannon, which was once used for shooting and now has a hole down the centre for the gas pipe, serves as the column’s base.
- The architect specifically requested gas lighting for the brand-new arcade building in Covent Garden.
- In Carting Lane, next to the Savoy hotel, there is a sewage gas bulb that runs continuously. The heat from the gas flame sucks up sewage gas. When sewer gas hits the flame, it is then burned. It was constructed to shield hotel rooms from sewer odours.
For more information, please call Franklyn Air.
