Edwardian Fire Station Calling Post & St Paul's Church, Wightman Rd

Comment by hob on January 26, 2013 at 20:53

I think we might get a Phd out of this eventually Dick. I found this picture that seems to match a bit better.

Comment by Hugh on January 26, 2013 at 21:53

Great work, guys! Who'd'a thunk they had such advanced stuff in the Edwardian period.

Comment by hob on January 28, 2013 at 13:32

I am not sure that they were that good Hugh. I just managed to zoom in and this is what I found.  

Comment by Hugh on January 28, 2013 at 13:48

Comment by deepajourno on February 22, 2013 at 17:56

Love this photo! We right live opposite the site where the new church has been built - fascinating to see the old church in its full glory. 

Comment by Lesley Ramm on January 16, 2016 at 0:11

These are street fire alarms and became common in the second half of the 19thC after the Telegraph system was installed. Information i found for a talk to Hornsey Historical Society on the Lovegrove Estate (off Nightingale Lane) after i found mention of a Fire Alarm in North View Road in Kelly's Street Directory - 

After 1870 the Post Office Telegraph service was supplying cabling to the area to enable the post office (Telegraph Offices) to send Telegrams

  This one is opposite 155 Nightingale Lane (see photo attached)

 Although there was still no Telegraph office in the area in 1909 it would have been laid in preparation for the Post and Telegraph Office that eventually opened in North View (number 123 then 144)

The Fire Alarm near 134 North View Road would most likely be a publicly accessible street alarm installed to serve the new large estate

It would have operated via the Telegraph system which may explain the Telegraph cover in an earlier slide (19) that I referred to

The first fire alarm telegraph system in the world was invented, constructed and placed in operation in Boston, Massachusetts, on April 28, 1852

 Online i found many photos of examples from late 19th/early 20th C

These were common street furniture n Victorian and Edwardian times

Comment by John Shulver on November 29, 2019 at 5:02

Most interesting.   

Comment by Hugh on March 14, 2021 at 10:28

I just came across a very detailed piece about early street fire alarms and thought I'd add the link here. 

Comment by Dick Harris on March 14, 2021 at 15:33

Thank you Hugh for publishing this link.  It has led on to a huge number of sources that seem to be curated by enthusiasts who once worked for BT and its predecessors in title (as I did myself for 25 years or so).

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