| Neil H |
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I was wondering if anybody had any information on the glass dome on top of the jewellers in Red Lion Square. Someone mentioned it to me recently, I just wondered if it had a purpose.
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| Syd |
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They are called a roof lantern, usually to let light in over darkened stairs in past days.
See Tom Mytten's posting, headed 'Lighthouse/Turning light.
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| Jill |
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Was it once Pinney's? Nearby was Finlay's shoe shop?
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| Mike Laughton |
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I have always understood that during Georgian and Victorian times, the domes, cupolas and other roof features of some of the taller buildings in a town would be illuminated to help guide stagecoaches into the town centres at night.
I gather that the roof feature at the top of what is now Dawson's was one of these inland "Lighthouses".
Within a generation or so of the coming of the railways, their use was forgotten and by late Victorian times street lighting was being installed in most towns and cities.
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| Neil H |
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That's very interesting. Thanks for the replies.
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