The continuing inspection of the city streets has come up with
these two decorated boxes - they are within a few hundred yards
of each other and are the only ones of this type found so far.
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The box on the left stands on Newhampton
Road, near the old Municipal Grammar School. It is
decorated on all sides but there is no maker's mark -
only an indecipherable registered design number.
The box
on the right is just along the road at Leicester Square.
It is marked "Hardy & Padmore Ltd., Worcester". |
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The photos below show the two sides of one of the boxes at the
Black Country Living Museum.
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One side has the pre- 1898 Wolverhampton
coat of arms on it and the other side has the post 1898
coat of arms. One side or the other might be a
later replacement. The box is marked "Callenders Co. Ltd.
London and Erith".
The Electricity Department
reports for 1918/19 record one payment to Callenders
Cable Co. for "pillar body and cable". This might
relate to this type. |
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Here are two more from the Black Country Living
Museum.
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The one on the left is another example of the curly top
with the old coat of arms. It is also marked "Callenders".
That on the right shows what seems to be the logo of the
Wolverhampton District Electric Tramways.
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This raises a separate problem. The Black Country
Living Museum says this logo belong to Birmingham and Midlands
Tramways and it appears in that context on some of their restored
vehicles. But we know it was used by the Wolverhampton
tramways department and appears, for example, on their building in
Mount Pleasant, Bilston. But Steve Winder tells us that "this logo
was, in fact, that of the British Electric Traction Company, and was
used throughout their operations". The following
three photos have kindly been provided
by Keith Pople, who is a designer of LV Pillars with Lucy.
He found these old Lucy products in their factory in Oxford.
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This pillar dates back to 1921 and was in use in Linton Road,
Oxford. |
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The
photos show another type of box, and the interior of yet another old
box. |
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Whilst we cannot record here all the Lucy boxes,
and their ilk, that ever were, we must add this one, provided
for us by Alec Hamilton:
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Alec found this in Hales Road, Cheltenham and it is
one of a number he found in that splendid town. Officially
they are called Lucy Pillars and, in Cheltenham, were associated
with the functioning of the street lights (and not, as had been
supposed before Alec got to work on them, in connection with the
trams). We do not appear to have any of these in
Wolverhampton. But they may all have disappeared: Alec
has recorded the demise of most of them in Cheltenham. His
experience emphasizes the importance of our efforts to preserve
ours. |
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