Monument MPM494 - Lamp columns on Eastney Esplanade

History
In the early C19 Southsea began to develop as a residential suburb of Portsmouth and a seaside resort. Southsea Common was subsequently laid out as a pleasure ground with Clarence Esplanade constructed in 1848 and housing development to the north and east of the common in the mid-C19. Eastney developed to the east of Southsea largely between the late C19 and early C20. The esplanade between Southsea and Eastney was laid out in the late C19 and early C20, as indicated by historic OS maps. A series of cast-iron decorative lamp columns were erected at this time. The 1898 OS map (1:2500) shows possible markers for lamp columns at Southsea, although this is not clear. Eastney Esplanade developed in the early C20 and any columns there were erected during that period, although it is also possible that all the lamps along the Southsea and Eastney seafront were added at the same time in the early C20.

Details
Lamp columns. Erected in about the early C20 probably by Drew-Bear, Ransome and Perks, Engineers, London.

MATERIALS: cast-iron columns with glass lanterns.

DESCRIPTION: fourteen lamp columns spaced at intervals. Each a tall round column with an ornate fluted pedestal with a moulded base and cap upon which is set a bulbous iron leaf motif surmounted by a further fluted column, then the main cast-iron column which has a Corinthian capital two-thirds up. The top of the column is surmounted by ornate moulded and fretted ironwork with the Portsmouth City crest at the centre and paired swan neck arms supporting two lanterns. Original lanterns are hexagonal iron-framed glass lanterns. The pedestal of the columns hold the manufacturers plate and another Portsmouth city crest. Some of the lanterns have broken, missing or replacement parts. These lamp columns are currently (2022) numbered 1 to 14.

Historic England, The National Heritage List for England (Index). SPM35.