Gas Lamp Post Outside Number 5

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.