Electrical service / section pillar at east end of Wellington Park, Belfast, BT9 6RT is a Grade B2 listed building in the Belfast local planning authority area, Northern Ireland. First listed on 15 June 2021.
Electrical service / section pillar at east end of Wellington Park, Belfast, BT9 6RT
- WRENN ID
- idle-zinc-sparrow
- Grade
- B2
- Local Planning Authority
- Belfast
- Country
- Northern Ireland
- Date first listed
- 15 June 2021
- Source
- NI Environment Agency listing
Description
This is a small freestanding cast-iron electrical service pillar, sited at the edge of the pavement on the north side of the eastern end of Wellington Park, close to the junction with Malone Road, Belfast. Dating to 1905 or slightly later, it is thought to be one of only three such pillars to have survived in Belfast and possibly one of the very few remaining structures associated with Belfast's tramways.
The pillar is a stocky cabinet of cube-like proportions, roughly 0.7 metres in height, with a rectangular plan of approximately 0.5 metres by 0.4 metres. It is broadly Classical in styling, consisting of a plain plinth above which are panelled faces with an oversailing cushioned cap featuring a hipped shallow-pitched top. Both the longer north and south faces are fitted with hinged doors bearing the arms of the City of Belfast. The original paint finish has largely weathered away, though fragmented patches of green paintwork remain visible.
This metal cabinet functioned as a service pillar or section isolation pillar, designed to house electrical equipment relating to Belfast's former tram and later trolleybus network. Such pillars were required by legislation to be positioned every half mile along electrified transport routes. They served either as a junction for the general power supply or as an isolator enabling engineers to work on a particular section of the network whilst electricity continued to flow through the rest of the system. If part of the transport infrastructure, this pillar would have served the tramline running along Malone Road and may have been installed in 1905 when Belfast Corporation electrified the city's tramways. However, it is notably smaller and slightly less ornate than the only other known surviving example at the south end of Linenhall Street, suggesting it may be more recent than that original 1905 pillar. The pillar was decommissioned when the trolleybus system, which succeeded the trams, was taken out of service in 1968.
The pillar is located within a conservation area and is of industrial archaeological interest.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
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- Radon risk assessment
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