General stuff about telegraph poles
For those of you who simply cannot get enough Telegraph Pole Appreciation Society news, we are making available a collection of the printed version of our newsletter. These contain essentially the same telegraph pole related items of the website, only laid out slightly differently and arguably with fewer spelling mistakes. Download them below. There is an order to these, but we can’t remember what it is.
They’re in PDF format, so if you need the thingy to make it all work, click here.
A week last saturday morning, the entire administration staff of the Telegraph Pole Appreciation Society boarded the society Smart CarTM and set course for the north. Destination, first Oban, then the good ship M.V. Clansman for a 4 hour bucking and swaying across to the isle of Tiree. Yes, we cleverly timed our jaunt to coincide with the fag-end of hurricane Katia thrashing its way up the west side of Britain.
Oh how we chuckled at the dictionary entry for Tiree which lists it as the sunniest place in the UK as we huddled by the wet sticks in the fireplace with the cottage roof rattling above our heads and the angry sea foam splashing against the windows.
But we did find the odd gap in the tempest to enjoy this delightful island. Herewith a list of adjectives and descriptions for you to conjure with : flat, peaceful, windy, sandy beaches, blue, interesting houses, lapwings, kite-surfers, fantastic views, seals, dramatic, peaceful – oh did I already say peaceful?
Anyway, every holiday is a busman’s and a bit of telegraph pole spotting always on the cards. The flat vistas, particularly the central part of the island they call “the Reef” allows photos like that on the left; distribution poles disappearing off into perspective infinity (almost). It was this kind of scene that first attracted me to the aesthetics of poles in my weird boyhood.
The other picture, taken through globs of rain on the lens shows Tiree’s tiredest telegraph pole which clearly isn’t long for this world. Closer examination revealed its “do not resuscitate” notice. We spoke in hushed tones in its presence.
I’ve been seeing this pole for ages. A rare 11/2 armed pole. Only, the road it was on was too busy to stop. So I waited for a day when the missus was driving and without the ubiquitous tail-gater coming over the Clwyd Gate pass near Ruthin, Denbighshire, North Wales. So grainy quality due to photo taken from moving car.
Worth a visit not least for the view of the Vale of Clwyd from the top. And I hear the restaurant has improved again.
Apologies to the person from whose blog I nicked the Ruthin photo
Cumberland Comms Ltd have written to me with the most concise message yet received (that does not have swearing in it).
We put poles in the ground
There wasn’t a full stop at the end either. So maybe they intended to tell me much more about themselves and were cut short. Perhaps by the telephone ringing with an order for a telegraph pole or maybe someone disturbed their train of thought with a mug of tea. Or could it be that they just don’t see the point or significance of full-stops.
If the latter, then they need to consider the distress they put pedants like me through. For starters, I never paused for breath until I got to the end of their email, including all the footers and everything. And then I had to go on and on to my poor wife about the standards of punctuation and what do they teach them in schools these days.
Anyway, upon research, it transpires that Cumberland Comms Ltd do indeed put poles in the ground. And they’ll do so for you too – at the right price of course – just like they have been doing since they started in 2001.
With the word “Cumberland” in their name though, I expect they prefer to erect them up there – in a county which hasn’t existed as an administrative entity since 1974. Ooh, it’s a complicated world!
What’s not to love about eBay and the things people flog on there? This item I discovered during a covert surfing session whilst I was supposed to be working. I’m still supposed to be at it and if anybody comes I may have to flick back to a spreadsheet or something official looking. Please bear with me here dear reader…
This Item is the TOP 3 metres of an original old telegraph pole which I rescued from a Lincolnshire farmers field a few years back. The field is now part of his farm, but it used to be a local railway siding that served the community, and the nearby bomber air field in the 2nd world war.
The exact age of the item is unknown to me as I am not an expert in such things, but I am sure you all are , so please e-mail me with your questions about all the various markings including where and what to look for,
I have mounted the pole inside a steel tube, welded to a car wheel (see listing) and due to it’s current size ( the bottom part of the pole was rotten) it can be displayed inside or outside.
Martin Tapsell sent us this photograph of a favoured telephone pole in a quiet corner of Water Street in Deal, Kent. Whilst not bristling with ceramics, like many favourite poles, these Maypole-esque highly strung affairs are always a handsome find in suburbia. And they are usually popular among the dove and pigeon fraternity too (for some reason).
Deal, of course, is famous for its Timeball tower and is hence synonymous with telegraph poles and the transmission of the Greenwich Time Signal – mostly to passing ships (and Radio 4). The naval yard at Deal was once at the end of a long chain of telegraph stations stretching all the way from the Admiralty in London. To celebrate this history, Deal has a street called Telegraph Road. Perhaps we should think about moving there.
Like Martin tells us in his email, everywhere now, Telecom engineers seem to be busy burying wires, cables and fibre-optics. So take the chance now to get out there and photograph these poles while they’re still part of our urban street furniture.
Timeball photo courtesy of Dave Patten
These massive structures support the weight of all the electricity generated by Cefn Croes Windfarm as it crosses the lower slopes of Pumlumon (eng: Plynlimon) in mid Wales.
On this particular day (9th April) they had absolutely nothing to do as there wasn’t a single breath of wind. Not even atop the mountain itself at 2,467ft (752m).
Rarely have I been so high and experienced so little wind. So, in an attempt to alleviate their intense boredom, these biploar poles, near Eisteddfa Gurig farm, took to fishing for clouds. And I was amazed to see this one catch a gorgeous little cumulus humilis as we passed underneath. It hung onto it for a short while, only to let it go back into the wild again whereafter the cloud shortly evaporated.
I first encountered these cards in a shop in Llandeilo,Carmarthenshire, wherein I promptly brought the lot.
They are the creation of Jacky Al-Samarraie of www.theartrooms.co.uk who clearly understands the aesthetics of the rural telegraph pole. My vested interest notwithstanding, these bold cards seem to capture, exquisitely, the essence of our British countryside. Jacky tells me that of all the cards she has designed, those with telegraph poles are her favourites. Why wouldn’t they be? For more cards and even more with telegraph poles on them visit The Art Rooms website.
Firstly, our Honorary Technical Advisor Keith S**** H.T.A. T.P.A.S. (pictured left, yesterday), has written in answer to Paul’s request for information a good few posts ago.
Have just seen Paul’s heart rending message,he is obviously worried that his poles may fall over. Do not fret my dear chap, properly pressure creosoted poles will last up to 100 years, yes 100 years before they fall down.Trust this alleviates your anxiety.
Keith S.(Honourary Technical Advisor,T.P.A.S)
He’s also written again to correct this website on some potential inaccuracies – well, that’s what Honorary Technical Advisors are for after all. In my Hieroglyphics gallery I make mention of “Heavy” poles. Apparently, no so thing; they are light, medium or Stout as indicated by the “cutting in (gouging). Last gouged figures on a pole indicates its year of processing. “Mind you”, he says, “the stouts would be pretty heavy”.
Finally, and it was never my intention to collect telegraph pole insulators or indeed photos of them. But that is what seems to be happening. And Ray Thorp – ex GPO / Post Office Telephones / British Telecom employee of 42 years sent me some photos of his eclectic potting-shed based collection. Among his ageing exhibits are an ex-Southern Railway insulator made of pitch-fibre. And the central one pictured right dates back to the National Telephone Co. and while porcelain on the inside is made of enamelled tin on the outside – like a camping mug.
Stay tuned listeners… All photos gratefully received – ceramics, pole of the month contenders, bizarre stuff.
It is often pointed out to us that half of the photos we show on this website are, in fact, electricity distribution poles. But as we say on the front page :
“We don’t care what the wires contain either. They all carry electricity in some way be it the sparky stuff which boils your kettle, or the thinner stuff with your voice in it when you’re on the phone”
If you were to stop Joseph and Mary Public in the street, point them at either an electricity DP or an aged GPO pole and ask “What is that?” 99.9% of the time, I am sure, you will hear the answer “A telegraph pole”. And it is on that premise that this site operates.
That and the fact that all wire-carrying wooden poles, as far as I am concerned, have an essence of whimsical poetry all of their own. There they stand, silent sentinels, forever observing us who scurry about beneath them, oblivious. I’ll get my coat.