Gas Lamp Post Outside Number 5 is a Grade II listed building in the Cambridge local planning authority area, England. Gas lamp post.

Gas Lamp Post Outside Number 5

WRENN ID
muffled-eave-heron
Grade
II
Local Planning Authority
Cambridge
Constituency
Cambridge MP: Daniel Zeichner (Lab)
Country
England
Type
Gas lamp post
Address
Gas Lamp Post Outside Number 5, Clare Road
OS grid reference
TL 442 576
Coordinates
52.19796, 0.10846
Source
Historic England listing

Also on this page: flood risk · radon risk · weather exposure · detailed attributes ↓

Description

The gas lamp post outside number 5 Clare Road is a Grade II listed street lamp, erected around 1889 by the Cambridge University and Town Gas Light Company. Made of cast iron, the lamp features a design that is loosely based on a classical column, with a fluted shaft that tapers slightly towards the top and then flares out to form a plain banded capital. Atop the shaft is a simple four-sided lantern made of metal and glass, supported by four curved metal arms, and it has a round finial detail. A ladder-rest extends from the base of the lamp.

Gas lighting was first introduced to Cambridge around 1822 by John Grafton, who initially produced gas from oil and later from coal. His company became the Cambridge Gas-Light Company in 1834, which was renamed 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, but this gas lamp in Clare Road, dating from the late 19th century, remains in use and is still supplied with gas today.

The gas lamp post is designated at Grade II due to its architectural and historic interest as an unusual example of a finely-detailed 19th-century gas lamp post, which continues to be lit by gas.

Local climate

Gas Lamp Post Outside Number 5 sits in one of the driest parts of the UK, with an average of 690 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 96% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 82% of listed buildings.

It experiences an average of 32 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 57% of listed buildings. Of these, 15 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.

Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.

More on this building

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  • Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
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  • Radon risk assessment
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