Four lamp posts outside the western entrance to St Pauls Cathedral

Four large cast iron Victorian lamp posts of 1874, by FC Penrose.

MATERIALS: cast iron, and glass.

DESCRIPTION: four identical late C19 large gas lamp posts, converted to electrical supply in the C20. The lamp posts stand on a piazza outside the western entrance to St Paul's Cathedral, within a granite bollard boundary. A pair stand either side of the central Queen Anne statue.

The bases are circular, topped by a moulded square-section pillar with decorative brackets. The mouldings have cast panels of foliage, crossed-swords, and a date mark of 1874. The base mouldings are terminated by four protruding cherubs, which are set into more foliage. A tall, four-sided column with panelled fluting rises to the base of the lantern which has further cast decoration including rose medallions. Four brackets support an opaque glass lantern which has a slender octagonal cast iron frame and a single access door. Above the lantern there is a ventilation grille which sits beneath a saucer shaped dome. The dome is surmounted by a ball moulding with flame-shaped petals and a pointed finial.