Obelisk

The Speen Obelisk, formerly known as the Speenhamland Lamp, is a gas lamp base erected in 1828. Originally located in the centre of the Broadway at its junction with the Bath Road in Newbury, it was relocated to its present site on Speen Lane in 1888.

The structure consists of a Bath Stone plain column with a moulded base, surmounted by a cast finial supporting a late twentieth-century lantern lamp. Horizontal banding on the column probably dates from its transportation to the present site in the late nineteenth century. There is evidence for a small plaque, now lost, that formerly occupied the east side.

The Speenhamland Lamp was erected in October 1828 following the passing of the Newbury and Speenhamland Act in 1825, which permitted the construction of a gasworks and gas lighting for the town and adjoining area of Speenhamland. The stone for the pillar is believed to have been donated by Frederick Page, one of the Speenhamland Improvement Commissioners, from his own quarry in Bath and transported to Newbury on the Kennet and Avon Canal. The Commissioners' minutes from July 1828 record their contribution of £10 towards its erection and specify that the lamp was to have a double burner. Early nineteenth-century Newbury was a thriving coaching town with several coaching inns on the Bath Road, including the adjacent George and Pelican Inn, which would have benefited from the lamp light. The necessity of the lighting was underscored by a report in the Reading Mercury of October 1828 noting the danger of the unlit road: "indeed it is necessary to have a gas light at night near this road [Broadway], for a person on horseback or in a gig stands a very good chance of losing his life, or breaking a limb by tumbling into one of the holes which are suffered to remain in the road".

Historic photographs show the lamp surrounded by iron railings with four small corner pillars to protect it from passing traffic. The lamp remained in Northbrook Street until November 1888, when it was removed to allow construction of a clock commemorating Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. The pillar was immediately re-erected at its present location. It is uncertain whether the lamp was also relocated, but a lantern was certainly absent for some considerable time until restoration in the late 1990s by the Speen Obelisk Restoration Appeal.

The Obelisk is an unusual and early form of gas light standard that illustrates the impact of technology on daily life in the early nineteenth century and the importance of the coaching trade to Newbury, as well as the necessity for well-lit roads. As a late nineteenth-century obelisk monument in its present location, it has added historical interest. Its special importance lies in its early date, simple yet unusual form, and its technological significance as one of the earliest examples of public lighting.