By MARK McLAUGHLIN
Edinburgh Evening News
8 February 2010
THE Capital could soon be glowing with Georgian splendour once again, with plans to reinstate historical street lighting in the New Town.
Edinburgh World Heritage (EWH) and the council are currently examining old photographs and planning documents to discover what the city's streetlights were like in days of old, with a view to replacing modern concrete posts with replicas of Georgian designs.
Once the research is completed the council will have a bank of classical designs at its disposal whenever a modern streetlight comes to the end of its operational life, and be able to quickly order a Georgian-style replacement.
EWH was inspired by projects in Lynedoch Place and Claremont Street where local residents banded together to restore their streets to their former glory.
Former Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell was among the 40 homeowners on Lynedoch Place who helped fund the GBP 30,000 restoration of the street in 2007.
The residents commissioned ten cast iron street lamps, funded by EWH, Edinburgh City Council and local residents - who chipped in around GBP 250 each.
David Hicks, communications manager at EWH, said: "We're not at the stage of discussing costs or which streets are going to be restored yet.
"We're still at the research stage to find out what kind of streetlighting was used in the New Town in the past.
"We want to discover what patterns were used, how they were positioned, whether they were wall-mounted or freestanding, and once this body of research has been done we can use it to refer back to whenever the opportunity to replace a streetlight comes up.
"It would be difficult to say how much each streetlight will cost because they will be made to order.
"It's quite exciting, actually, as the company that manufactured some of the original designs in the late 19th century is still around, still has all of the old moulds and even has some of the original order books so it will be quite easy to call them up and resurrect some of these old patterns."
A council spokesman said: "The council plans to develop a citywide strategy for streetlighting and, in order to inform the process, have asked Edinburgh World Heritage to lead on this historic study."
SHINING A LIGHT ON THE PAST
WROUGHT iron oil lanterns can still be found on Charlotte Square and York Place.
Some cast iron standards that were put up privately still exist on Heriot Row, Queen Street, Ann Street, Howard Place and Northumberland Street.
The committee of Commissioners of Police of the Lighting Department commissioned rail-mounted streetlights with public funding in 1819. There are surviving examples on George Street, Stafford Street, in the Advocates Library and York Place.
Most oil lamps were taken down in the 1820s to give way for new gas lights that were mounted on the pavements. These, however, were inspired by the oil lamps' design.
Edinburgh's street lanterns were powered by whale or train oils in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, giving a rather sparse light, only provided in the winter.
Sir John Carr reported that one July night he had to feel his way from George Square over North Bridge to St Andrew Square.
The oil was also very valuable and versatile, causing Russian sailors to climb the posts and make off with the oil for cooking.
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