Sewer gas destructor lamp

“Once a common feature of English streets, gas lamps are increasingly rare, and those combined with sewer vents are even rarer. Their aim was to deal safely with the build-up of methane and stagnant gases in urban sewers, which was a common problem in the late 19th Century.

“Gas destructor lamps were located where there was a pocket of gas. Three burning mantles created an intense heat in the lamp hood, causing an up-draught that drew up the sewer gases into the column to be burnt off. The lamp in Stewart Road, Sheffield, is a good surviving example in a city where there used to be 82 such lamps.”