Oil lamps, used to light the way in ancient Rome, could be considered an early example of street lighting. Designed to guide the way and ward off danger, street lighting has gone through many changes as a result of urban development and improving energy efficiency. This week, Newry and Mourne Museum looks at the history of streetlights.
William Murdoch is credited with the concept of using coal gas to light streetlamps. This led to the first public street lighting with gas, being demonstrated in Pall Mall, London, on the 4th of June 1807 by Frederick Albert Winsor.
The Belfast Gasworks was established on Ormeau Road in 1821. Prior to this, Belfast's streets were lit with glass bowls filled with whale oil and rush wicks, managed by the Belfast Charitable Society. The following year, the Newry Gas Light Company was established and by 1823 streetlights operating via public gas was available within the town, however these were only lit during the winter months. Notable individuals involved in the company included Trevor Corry and John Boyd.
On the 26th of March 1828, the Act for the "lighting, watching, and cleansing of cities, towns corporate, and market towns in Ireland" was formally approved thanks to the work of Councillor O'Hanlon and his barrister son. Due to this act, Newry became a model for municipal administration throughout Ireland. In addition to the election of twenty-one Commissioners of Police, eleven officers were also given the title of the Town Watch and had their salaries paid from local taxes. Their duties involved the lighting of streetlights. By 1830, Newry had a total of seventy-eight streetlights, the first one located outside the gates of the gasworks. Other lights were placed alongside the main streets. Oil lamps were also still being used as streetlights during this time. By 1857 there were two hundred gas lamps in operation throughout the town, and oil lamps were no longer be in use. The Newry Gas Light Company was dissolved, and the Newry Gas Consumers Company Limited created its place.
In 1950, Lisburn saw the first installation of fluorescent street lighting in Northern Ireland. It was also the largest fluorescent street lighting scheme in the British Isles. It became the first town in the UK to completely illuminate all its main roads with fluorescent lamps which offered a brighter and more energy efficient method of lighting compared to gaslighting (gas prices had also increased as a result of the Second World War). In 1952, Newry became one of the first towns in Ireland to be fully lit with electric fluorescent lights, with the installation being carried out by P.J. Murray, a local electrical contracting business established in the 1930s.
In 2015, another advance in technology saw the Department for Infrastructure rolling out a scheme to replace yellow sodium streetlights with LED alternatives. The scheme began in Banbridge and Armagh before being rolled out throughout the rest of Northern Ireland in the hopes of creating long-term savings in terms of electricity usage, maintenance costs and limiting light pollution.
In 2017, the Newry Maritime Association restored one of the last two gaslights left in Newry to commemorate the history of the gaslights. The light was located at Dublin Bridge with the other holding place on the O'Hagan Bridge.
