Cast iron reminders are a light history lesson
I have always found the cast iron electric streetlights that were made by Revo of Tipton to be beautiful designs and these were some of the earliest electric lighting in Black Country side streets.
The former Coseley Urban District Council used many of them when they converted to electricity and I can remember in the ’80s and early ’90s that the postwar part of Woodcross had them in every street, and there were also a number in Wallbrook and Kenelm Road near Coseley Station.
Swan necks
Many of the Revo streetlights in Coseley had ornate swan necks and were originally painted dark green, although after Coseley was spilt in 1966 those in the part taken over by Dudley were repainted bright green, while Wolverhampton’s were repainted grey.
Sadly, both Dudley and Wolverhampton Councils fitted modern lights to many of them in the 1980s and ’90s that weren’t in character. All the cast iron lighting was removed from Woodcross in the early ’90s, although some Revo lamp-posts still remain in Wolverhampton’s part of Coseley, there are a few in Lanesfield and in Fieldhouse Road on the Parkfields border.
However, Dudley Council had a policy in about 2014 to remove all cast iron streetlights so none remain in any part of the borough. The Urban District of Sedgley, who converted to electricity around the same time as Coseley, only had cast iron Revo lighting in two streets that I know of, Greenway Gardens on the Beacon Estate and Ward Road in Goldthorn Park. As Goldthorn Park is now Wolverhampton the lamp-posts remain, but as with the others they have modern lights fitted.
Older
After I had seen identical Revo lights in Dudley a few years ago, I found a few that still had swan necks. The first was in Paradise near Buffery Park, which I photographed in 2003. I later found a few in
Netherton and Kate’s Hill in 2006. I knew there were a few Revo posts in Wolverhampton with swan necks and I photographed these in 2007. The first one was in Meadow Road in Finchfield and is shorter and older than any of the others, dating possibly from the pre-war years. The others were in Westfield Grove, Finchfield and Lonsdale Road in Penn Fields. None of these had their original swan necks, but the fittings were still in character and the boxes on two of them weren’t functional, just part of the light fitting. I’m not sure if these streetlights still exist.
When I was passing through Darby End, Netherton at the beginning of 2009, I was lucky to find two more cast iron Revo streetlights with swan necks in Vale Road. They had been painted a beige-green colour that Dudley Council recently started to use. I looked all round other parts of Dudley, but found no more with swan necks. As far as I knew, the only Black Country councils to have used cast iron Revo lighting were
Coseley, Sedgley, Dudley and Wolverhampton. However, I made an interesting discovery two years ago. I was looking at Ryder Street in Wordsley on Google Maps after I had visited a friend near there and the 2012 image showed two Revo lamp-posts with modern lights, but unlike any others I had seen.
Thinner
They were very short, but unlike those in Wolverhampton they were much thinner. I have since found there were more of the same type in Foundry Road and New Street in Wall Heath.
It appears the former Brierley Hill UDC only used a small number of cast iron Revo streetlights, unless there were more that were replaced years ago. I would be very interested to hear from any readers from Brierley Hill, Kingswinford, Wall Heath, Wordsley and Quarry Bank who have memories of these early electric lights, if there were indeed any more around the district.
Matt, by email: mattm7924@gmail.com