These appear to be relatively cheap modern lamposts and very tall. I assume the latter was to try and avoid vandalism.
The only ones I have seen in Gourock were very ornate posts and normal gas sreet lamp height and almost certainly victorian. I have never come across the Dunoon style anywhere else but I am prepared to find that it was more common than I thought. Are there any on Bute?
I'm sure the "originals" will not have survived all the moves that being Glasgow Provost Lights would have entailed, as those involved fought for the post year after year
Their cast bodies, cast bases, and glass panels would have succumbed to the constant stresses and strains of being repeatedly dug-up and replanted by council workmen.
I don't know about Bute - certainly not in any galleries I've seen. May be worth some research.
One potential confusion there might arise from the Victorian hotels, which could feature their own pair of ornate lamppost at their street entrance. I can only think of one set that remains on Victoria Street, for the Victoria Hotel, which is actually being refurbed at the moment.
There are a pair of lamps outside the Victoria Hotel in Victoria Street in Rohtesay but these are just because it is a hotel.
However there is at least one provosts lamp that I know of here in Rothesay. I am trying to find out why I dont have one outside my house and have been researching this for a few weeks (hence I found this site).
I will look more closely and reply with pics if I find any?
I don't normally approve of personal data appearing in Forums, but it would help me hunt this down as I have a small collection of Bute/Rothesay info, and access to some online resources,
Any chance of identifying the street this light might have been sited in, either here, or by PM or email to avoid the info being too public?
The lights are awarded to the holder, originally being a pair of gas lights either side of the bailie/senior councillor/provost/lord provost's door, then they were (better say 'were', rather than 'are' nowadays ) reduced to a single light when they no longer held the position.
As noted by The Fox, there may have been regional differences, as they seemed to get a wrought-iron archway surmounted by one light in Argyll & Bute. Better not let Glasgow know about that little extra, or they will have to re-open a foundry somewhere.
As noted above, recent practice seems to be to remove the lights after the position is no longer valid, as I have seen a nearby pair disappear from Sandyhills, and possibly reappear in Tollcross - I cannot be sure if these are in fact the same lights, but they do look the same.
From some other correspondence this has sparked off, I suspect that these have been either ignored or forgotten by officialdom, as it seems to be a fairly drawn out process to track down details - and you'd think the council would have records.
It seems that we enthusiasts of the old, lost, and forgotten know more than most, and authors of recent local history books may know even more.
When I was at university in Edinburgh in the 1970s they were standard. Known as "Bailie's lamps". The Bailie was a senior councillor (something like they had served for 5 years) and the city lighting department would install one on the pavement outside their house, all connected up to the streetlighting circuit. The Lord Provost (ie mayor) of the city got two, and when they retired they got to keep one. The lighting stores kept several of them in stock, they were apparently expensive to have manufactured. They were cast iron, with the city coat of arms on them.
They always looked a bit incongruous when sited outside tenement blocks or on council estates, but the tradition stood.
Maybe this subject could be the basis of a successful (and useful, unlike most of the rest) Facebook group, seeking pictures and locations of the provost or bailie lights throughout the UK?
What a fantastic website! Would just add that Bannockburn War Memorial was relocated to the site of the former Town Hall in the early '70s, so those gate lamps are original.
What a fantastic website! Would just add that Bannockburn War Memorial was relocated to the site of the former Town Hall in the early '70s, so those gate lamps are original.
I tried to contact them once to ask if they wanted photographs but never got a reply.
But I will have to delete the preceding post (or rather the lines with with the links) soon as the links are useless, and have not been checked and updated.
Probably a consequence of internal code formatting, rather than a posting error.
I managed to pick up some better pics of the Glasgow/Tollcross lamps (Newtongrange Avenue if you are handy for a look), and it looks as if the recipient managed to get matching posts and gates to go along with them, or at least the paint :
I'd have to concur with The Fox's observation that the modern version of these lights are pretty easy to spot, and are not a patch on the originals carefully crafted by the Victorian master of metalwork when these lights were introduced.
While I wouldn't claim to be an accomplished metalworker, I'd be relatively embarrassed if I handed a lantern finished like this to someone.
Sadly, I don't think the glass work is up to much either, and the coat of arms look decidedly poorly defined:
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