On Monday 6th October – in a howling gale and driving rain – a firm of specialist lighting restoration contractors from Millbrook commenced the restoration of the unique double-headed ‘Gas Lamp Monument’, that commemorates the bringing of gas lighting to Lymington in 1832.
The monument represented a ‘Thank you’ from the town to Sir Harry Burrard Neale and his brother George Burrard, who gave the original iron columns and lamps respectively It initially stood opposite the old Town Hall, in the town centre, and, when that was demolished in 1858, the monument was transferred to a position outside St. Thomas’ Church. When the town’s lighting ceased to be gas-powered, the monument had a further move – to its current position adjacent to the Royal Lymington Yacht Club. A small barely-legible sign by the church gate-post records this last move.
The restoration of the cast-iron, recently-Listed gas standard is another important component of the ‘BN250’ project and is being funded by New Forest District Council.
