Two lamp posts outside 7 and 21 Cecil Court

A matching pair of gas streetlights, comprising cast-iron 'St Martin's' columns dating from about 1890, with Upright Rochester lanterns manufactured by William Sugg and Company Limited, probably installed around 1930.

MATERIALS: cast iron columns with glazed lanterns of iron, spun copper and enamelled steel.

DESCRIPTION: the two lamp posts are positioned centrally in the pedestrianised Cecil Court, one outside number 7 and the other outside number 21. Both have ornate, 'St Martin's' columns of cast-iron with later Upright Rochester lanterns. The columns are around 3m tall, with an ornamental spiral design to the shafts. The name of the original parish, ST MARTIN IN THE FIELDS, is embossed on one side of the base of each column, above a worn relief depicting a mounted St Martin dividing his cloak to give half to a beggar. At the top of the shaft, each column has a ladder rest integrated with decorative scrollwork on one side only, an unsual feature for its asymmetry. Above the ladder rest is a moulded collar and a short shaft extension added at the same time as the Rochester lanterns to increase their height and light distribution. Each lantern has a circular, weatherproof chimney above an inverted, six-mantle burner contained in a spherical glass enclosure with a drainage hole to its base. The main body of each lantern is supported on a pair of upright arms, which project at right-angles from the cast-iron control clock box and pass through the enamelled steel reflector to provide the gas supply to the burner.