Well I guess this was inevitable. It is a great shame to see these Seagulls - perhaps the only surviving open sodiums left in the UK - are about to go as a working installation. Unless any other installations can be unearthed (and if I was a betting man, I would bet against that happening), it looks like a chapter in British street lighting history is about to close for good.

Despite living in Colchester, which is a heck of a journey from Rochdale, I have been lucky enough to have been sent to Rochdale or somewhere nearby twice this year, so I thought this moment in time would be appropriate to share some photos, and perhaps encourage anyone who can make the journey to Rochdale to go and see these lanterns, because this is literally your last chance. And remember to take your camera.


A Wardle Seagull in Gate Street. Photograph taken in February 2012.

On my first trip to Rochdale last winter, most of the older lanterns in the Deeplish Road area (which has the highest concentration of Wardle Seagulls) were day-burning, suggesting they were group switched.


A Wardle Seagull in Philip Street. Photograph taken in February 2012.

The Seagulls were not designed to take the 35W SOX lamps - in fact the 35W SOX lamps weren't invented until decades later. Sadly, the conversions to SOX bulbs often look pretty hideous, with the lampholder outside its protective housing and half of the SOX bulb not fitting under the curved enamel reflectors.


Looking up at the Seagull at the junction of Philip Street and Midhurst Street. Photograph taken in February 2012.

Many of the Seagulls are badly corroded with rust, although they still look structurally sound. I guess almost 80 years of rain, hail, sleet and snow hasn't helped their cause.


A side-profile of a Seagull in Midhurst Street, with an end-profile of a Seagull in Philip Street. Photograph taken in February 2012.


And a close-up image of a Seagull in Gate Street. Photograph taken in August 2012.

A chance opportunity to re-visit Rochdale cropped up in August 2012, and once again most of the older lanterns in the Deeplish Road area (where most of the Wardle Seagulls are concentrated) were day-burning.


A last image of a Wardle side-road Seagull. This one is in Midhurst Street. Photograph taken in August 2012.


Overt Street is the next street along from Gate Street, and it has this little treat in store - a Wardle Aureole, once again day-burning on both of my visits along with most of the Seagulls in the area. Photograph taken in August 2012.

I guess this may have been a casual replacement for a Seagull!


A close-up of the Aureole in Overt Street. Photograph taken in February 2012.


Looking up at this highly unusual lantern in Overt Street. Photograph taken in August 2012.


Onto the main road Wardle Seagulls now, and this remaining example is near the junction of Balderstone Road and the A671 Oldham Road. Photograph taken in August 2012.


A close-up of this surviving main road Wardle Seagull in Balderstone Road. The surviving main road Seagulls now run 90W SOX bulbs, which once again exceed the length of the enamel reflectors above.


The other known surviving main road Wardle Seagull lights the roundabout outside The Strand shopping parade, at the junction of Daventry Road and Balderstone Road.

Note how crudely the bracket in the foreground was cut back to accommodate a Philips MA90. I wonder what used to be on that column? Photograph taken in February 2012.

And now for something you weren't expecting to see...


A photograph of the same location from twelve years ago. This photograph, taken in July 2000, shows two main road Wardle Seagulls side by side!

Open sodiums were widely used in Colchester, but the last ones disappeared from our streets in the 1980s, so stumbling upon these lanterns on a trip to Rochdale in 2000 was like stepping back in time for me....even twelve years ago! It was enough to stop the car to take a photograph, and seeing what has happened to the nearest column since then, I'm glad I did!

I particularly appreciate that last photo... as I always have had my suspicions about that column with the MA on.

Depending on how timings go I may try for another trip over that way on Thursday or Friday. It means leaving York before 1pm to get there before sunset currently, as the trains are slow on the second section of my route and encounter the time-sink of Bradford.

This was the first photo I took of the Seagulls after I went to Kirkholt for the 'donor bikes'

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If I get time this week, what with my sporadic working hours, I'm going to attempt to get a few snaps of these fantastic survivors. Sadly the screen on my camera isn't working properly so I'll have to hazard a guess as to where I am firing.

That Wardle Aureole in Overt Street has just reminded me of that one in Meltham, make me wonder if that is still in situ too?

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From streetlighting to radio, dance through the night whilst the streetlights are glowing outside.

An update on the Rochdale situation.

The combined Rochdale & Oldham PFI is moving at quite a pace. To give you some idea, 60 columns per day are being topped out in the combined areas. As things stand, it’s the South of Rochdale that is being currently targeted.

This means that the remaining 35 Watt open sodium’s in the Deeplish Road area will be disconnected and removed in the next couple of weeks, the Balderstone 90-Watts will possibly see in the New Year in before removal.

Some of these lanterns are in an appalling state of repair and it is incredible that they have lasted until now. The amount of corrosion to the enamel reflectors (if they still have them) and the cast aluminium reflector retaining fasteners is quite advanced on most of them, the cast iron body being the most substantive piece remaining.

There is another 35-Watt installation of Seagulls surviving to the North of the town, which the PFI won’t wipe out for a while, so there’s still time for photos if you want them. You need to check out Thumb Hall Lane estate, Whitworth and the surrounding streets on GSV. https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Thumb+ ... 8,,1,-6.89

I am in current negotiations with the contractor's E-on and have met with them. As things stand I am confident that a reasonable number of Seagull lanterns can be saved. However, please do not approach E-on with further requests to save these lanterns, otherwise there is a serious risk that nothing will be saved, please understand this. Thank you.

Thanks for the update Claire... is that Lucknow Street lantern the one at the junction (which has a big Smartwater sign attached to the column) or the one at the far end of the street by the wall? When I've been taking photos I haven't really looked too deep at their condition - I know the one in Gate street has only half a reflector left but I thought most of the others in that southern quadrant of streets were mostly in tact.
The 90w ones in Kirkholt appeared to be in decent nick.

The Thumb Hall Lane estate is the first lot of the 35w ones I saw, after somebody on here revealed these lanterns to be there after Gordon Brown called some woman who lived in that area (Tintern Avenue) a biggot. There is a good photo opportunity at duck to shoot one or two that are starting up at-level with a hill in the background, due to the street going uphill.

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And whilst any person reading this thread now knows the contractor involved, I repeat the earlier statement made by both Claire and myself on the previous page: Please DO NOT contact the council or contractor as this may hamper current negotiations. Claire is very good at these negotiation procedures, so if anybody is going to be able to get the Seagulls saved from the crusher it will be her.

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Yes, the Lucknow Street is the one with the smart-water sign on it. The enameled reflectors are very poor and would need replacing. Some of the older seagulls lanterns had mirrored rimpled-glass reflectors, but these appear to have all but gone.

Firstly, what an excellent set of photos David- well worth taking the time to record these old stalworts before their impending demise.

Secondly, i think we've just about got the idea that we shouldn't all phone Eon and ask for lanterns. Any further reminders are probably not necessary and I've pretty much understood ALL the prior reminders. Thanks for the advice.

I noticed today from the train there are several new columns with a supply (but still with barriers in place) somewhere around the Grasscroft/Dobcross/Denshaw/Diggle areas on quite a number of roads. These can be seen from the Transpennine line, and are within the Oldham boundary so are part of the PFI works (Evolos with white light, most likely CPO)

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I'm still not quite making it over before sunset, but here's the Rochdale update for this month so far:

We'll start with the main development:

Note the lack of a Wardle Aeurole...

Gate Street Midhurst Street, Philip Street (north) - not really much change


New columns for Midhurst Street still don't have their lanterns fitted!


Philip Street (south) - this one is still here but not for much longer....


.... because around the corner in Cecil Street, works are complete



Kirkholt has new columns throughout. Side road columns are topped out, and I do recall seeing at least one street where they were lit. I only checked my main through route from Queensway round to Oldham Road, so don't know if the Eleco's along Hill Top Drive are still there or not.



The Strand... 90w Seagull #1 still in use as new columns are untopped





Tintern Avenue area remains untouched by new columns. One seagull has been replaced by one of those chunky Siteco type lanterns that have replaced some seagulls elsewhere, but the rest of the seagulls are still there.




I also found a couple of survivors on private land by accident, but that's for another post after the above has been seen first!

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Progress looks to be slower than I thought, so maybe this is why I haven't heard back from the contractor's? I think that Dunlop Avenue was due for imminent service transfer and column removal, which would have seen at least three Wardles go.