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The Last Gas Lamppost
It may not look very exciting but you are looking at the last remaining lamppost from the time when Kirton in Lindsey was lit by gas.
The History
Gas came to Kirton in 1856 and the Kirton in Lindsey Gas, Light & Coke Company produced gas for nearly 100 years until it closed in 1955. The town was lit with gas lamps probably only until the First World War so no examples survive beyond this one lamppost near the church. If you look at the base, you can see the where the gas pipe originally went.
The Restoration
The post was all that remained and was in a sorry state but in in 2024 The Kirton in Lindsey Society gained permission from the church (on whose land it stands) to restore it to its former glory and the work was completed in 2025.
A replacement lamp of the correct vintage was sourced from a salvage company on the Internet and refurbished to fit on the post by a local engineer who volunteered to take on the project. We believe we have created something as near as possible to the original as these pictures from the 1930s show but it does not light up now as there is no longer any gas supply to it.
It is possible that the lamppost was manufactured locally. If you turn your back on the lamppost now and look across the road opposite the church at the modern buildings, it is hard to realise, but this was once the site of Marris’s Foundry.
Marris Bros & Beverley (Brass & Iron) Founders was started by Charles Marris in the second half of the 19th century. The works were called the Albion Works and by the 1920s/30s they were agricultural implement makers as well as being a busy engineering works. It continued in business until 1945/6, but only as a blacksmiths (mainly shoeing horses), until ironworking ceased and a firm called Woodleys Caravans took over. After they left in the 1960s, the site was empty for some years until the new town houses were built in the mid 1980’s.
There is more information about the story of gas later in the trail.
The next stop takes you to the church.
