Gas Lamp Post Outside Number 7

The gas lamp post outside number 7 Millington Road is a Grade II listed street lamp, erected by the Cambridge University and Town Gas Light Company around 1889.

This lamp is made of cast iron and features a design that is loosely based on a classical column. It has a fluted shaft that sits on a circular base, which in turn is placed on an octagonal plinth. The shaft tapers slightly before widening to form a plain banded capital. Atop the shaft is a simple four-sided lantern made of metal and glass, which is supported by four curved metal brackets and topped with a spike finial. A ladder-rest extends from the base of the lantern.

Gas lighting was introduced to Cambridge around 1822 by John Grafton, who initially produced gas from oil and later from coal. His company evolved into the Cambridge Gas-Light Company in 1834, which became the Cambridge University and Town Gas Light Company in 1867. Gas production at the riverside site ceased in 1969 with the introduction of North Sea gas. Millington Road was developed on land owned by King's College in 1889 and was soon supplied with gas by the Cambridge University and Town Gas Light Company. The gas lamps continue to be supplied with gas and remain in use today.

This gas lamp post is notable for its architectural and historic interest as an unusual example of a finely detailed 19th-century gas lamp post. It is still lit by gas and has group value as part of a collection of ten other similar gas lamp posts from the same period and design on Millington Road.