Once upon a time, chunky concrete streetlights with arched arms lit a large proportion of the country's streets. They're very much a dying breed now, but in some towns a few cling on here and there. I remember many in Leeds when I was younger, though I can't think of any that survive now. Warrington is a different story, with a few streets tucked away in the suburbs that still have a number of these handsome lights.
Thanks to Mike Barford of www.streetlightonline.co.uk for identifying all the lamps.
Hallfields Road in Orford is lit end to end with these lights, with medium length arms and fairly new Philips MA 90 lamps on them. Unfortunately they're clearly scheduled for removal very soon (Autumn 2003) as some shiny new lights are already installed along the road.
Old and new side by side, again on Hallfields Road. The new lights seem to have been there quite some time, so how long the old ones have left is uncertain.
A little way further north, Greenwood Crescent is in an area that seems to be undergoing regeneration funded by national government. The road itself (and streetlights of course) is from the 1950's, but the houses along one side of it are brand new. Fortunately, there seem to be no plans to re-light this road.
Another look at the crescent, with a brand new WRTL/Industria 2600 lamp on the streetlight in the foreground.
This light has an older Thorn Alpha 9 orange sodium lamp on it, dating from the 1970's. Originally this type of post had a hanging orange sodium lamp, like the ones below.
Detail of the arm of one of the streetlights, again with a newer white sodium WRTL/Industria 2600 lamp.
Caldbeck Avenue in Orford, a small residential street behind the Co-Op on Capesthorne Road. This is the smallest incarnation of the old style lamp posts, complete with original Thorn Beta 4 lamp hanging from the arm.
The only other one of this type, with a slightly larger GEC Z5591 lamp on it, is found a few yards further along the same street.
Epilogue
18 months later, the old lights around Greenwood Crescent remain proudly in place. The ones on Hallfields Road are, sadly, now long gone.
And in 2008, the situation is updated by Jon:
"Those concrete columns in Greenwood Crescent in Warrington have been replaced by 8-metre Malitite galvanised columns with 100-watt WRTL ARC lanterns. Warrington Borough Council have been doing a lot of column replacements over the last year due to many older units failing the structural testing."