Thorn Civic 1 Lantern Installations
The Thorn Civic 1 was a wildly popular lantern throughout the UK. It could be used with lamps up to 150W, meaning it was used in a wide-range of applications. It's aluminium construction made it a very heavy and sturdy lantern. Two versions of the Civic 1 exist, the older design and newer design. Both can easily be distinguished from one-another, owing to the different shape and paint used. It's distinctive shape makes it an icon among the lighting community, and one of the most-well-known lanterns.
Fradley
This rather-corroded Civic 1 is located on Church Lane, Fradley.
It runs a 50W SON-T lamp.
Tamworth
In Amington, Thorn Civic 1s continue to dot the various footpaths and cycleways. They run a mix of mostly 50W and 70W SON-T, but I assume they'll start fading fast once the LED scheme hits the area!
This Civic 1 is located on a footpath in Amington, and has had a decent portion of its bowl smashed. The lamp (despite it's lamp holder coming loose) looks to be ok but I won't know until I return at night!
Another installation on the same pathway.
On the 25th June 2024, a day-burning Thorn Civic 1 was spotted on a footpath in Amington. The column in question was column 1 of a footpath at the end of Lindera.
A close-up of the lamp confirms this lantern runs 50W SON-T.
This newer model of the Thorn Civic 1 was located on Spruce, Amington. It looked to have been shot at.
A wall-mounted Civic 1 was spotted on the 25th June 2024 on Harebell.
The lantern (T2) looks quite clean and fairly new, implying it may have remained NOS for a while before being installed as a repair to the GEC Z8896 that would have been here previously.
Brindley Drive supports a sparse population of 100W Civic 1s as replacement lanterns for failed Thorn Pilote T1s, the first of-which is located on column T7.
T15 is a similar installation.
T27 is the last Civic 1 on this road.
On the column is the remains of old column numbers, newer ones having been added later on.
Jumping over to Sandy Way, more main road 100W Civic 1s were littered about. Most of these no-longer remain, having been wiped-out by a replacement scheme. Pictured below is T16, which was around for a few days longer.
The base has suffered some minor damage, evident by the dents and paint left on the column.
A more-recent picture showcases the new columns in the background, creeping up on this unsuspecting Civic 1.
Next to be photographed was column T28, which no longer exists.
Significant damage to the concrete bracket is apparent from this close-up.
The base has also accumulated some denting.
A nearby number spray-painted onto the ground confirmed the forthcoming removal of this column.
Column T33s fate is unknown as-of-yet, but from what I remember, it too is gone.
Continuing the theme of main road Civic 1s, Woodland road has a rather-interesting example on column T45. Can you spot it?
This newer-gen Civic 1 is cable-tied shut! I imagine the clip has failed or is damaged...
Another area in which the Civic 1 used to stand strong, is Tamworth Town Centre. The cycle-paths were littered with them, and some still remain, such as the following examples which run 50W SON-T. Cycleway 2 has the last-few remaining Civic 1s in the area. The first one I pictured was column T29:
The 50W Civic 1, while grubby, is in good-nick.
Column T28 also hosts a Civic 1.
While the picture is blurry, the unclipped gear-cover becomes apparent. The newer Civic 1s gear clips as-opposed to the traditional bolts became the lanterns Achilles Heel. The clip also acts as the cover's hinge, meaning from here, it wouldn't take much to slide the cover off entirely!
The next Civic 1 is visible all-the-way on column T11.
If you look closely, you can see the loose canopy cover; I'd imagine this lantern is water-logged inside the gear compartment and has likely tripped the breaker in the column's base.
A Holophane S-Line can be seen on the adjacent column, a formidable foreshadowing of what's to come. Rather unsurprisingly, the S-Line doesn't work either.
These are some pictures of the Civic 1s before replacement. None of these exist anymore.
Here is the last remaining Civic 1 on Medway, Belgrave. It's remained for about a decade since the others were replaced with Advanced LEDs Clara Lanterns.
These Thorn Civic 1s are situated on Elizabeth Drive, Tamworth. The other lanterns on the street are a mix of Holophane V-Maxes and Holophane S-Lines. The Civic 1s run 50W SON-T lamps.
The post-top Civics here have a post-top adaptor. From this angle you can see the adaptor's two grubscrews, and the lantern's two grubscrews. I've heard from many engineers that they can be a nightmare to remove, often needing to be bashed with a 15lb lump hammer continuously before they give way.
Buckingham Road, Tamworth is home to several Thorn Civic 1s running 100W SON-T. Both the newer and older model of Civic 1 exist here, providing an interesting look at both of them! This first example and it's column replaced an Eleco GR100 running 90W SOX on an 8m Stanton & Staveley concrete column.
This is the newer model of Civic 1, and is easily identifiable as it sports a clip on the gear compartment rather than screws. The clip can be spotted at the back of the Civic 1. The bottom-profile of the lantern is also different. If you are particularly vigilant you may also notice that the paint colour is slightly-lighter than the older Civic.
For comparison, this Civic 1 is located a few columns down-the-road. It's the older model of Civic 1, also running 100W SON.
Zooming in, the discrepancies become much clearer.
The under-profile of the same lantern.
More Civic 1s line Buckingham Road, each was a casual replacement lantern for an Eleco GR100.
