3 Oct 2026

Calendar Photo Competition – Winner

posted in: Appreciating, fabled poles, Gorgeousness, Photos |

We were pleased to receive so many entrants to our little competition. Some cracking photos. Some only let down by the fact that they were a bit blurry, or the wrong shape or some other non-discernible arbitrary criteria of the selection panel – me. You’ll hopefully see why this one was chosen so without further ado. Step forward Matthew Pilkington for this fabulous picture from atop DP252 in Portree on the Isle of Skye, looking out South-West towards the rest of the island. One can’t help but feel that as a pole climber, Matthew has better access to such beautiful scenes than the rest of us. Argument won. Matthew wins a TPAS mug, our undying appreciation as well as a place on the TPAS Calendar 2027. What an honour. But then what a cracking photo!

The view from atop Telegraph Pole DP252 at Portree, Isle of Skye, looking SW across to the rest of the island. Credit: Matthew Pilkington — The view from atop Telegraph Pole DP252 at Portree, Isle of Skye. Photographicus Magnifiencis by Matthew Pilkington

Now, we were so enamoured with this next two photos that we gave then joint second place. No TPAS mug prize I’m afraid – we run on fumes as it is – but they are on the list for calendar 2028 and so would earn their photographers a freebie calendar as and when that one is produced. Subject to us finding enough poles for another year. It’s getting difficult I’ll have you know. That on the left is Conor Cook’s photo of a power/phone dual use pole outside his house in Barr, Vermont, USA. I love the geometric proliferation of wires. And on the right is a main road called No. 5 Road, Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada. The photographer, Heather Allen has named this photo “Strong and proud”. Coincidentally, visit the google street view of this exact location and turn 180 degrees to look the other way and you’ll wonder just what do Canadians do with all this electricity they’re lugging around the countryside?

And finally, in no particular order herewith a selection of other photos submitted. I’m eternally grateful to all our contributors whether you won or didn’t. Please keep your eyes out for poles. Especially those that are calendar worthy. All photographers credited in the alt.text – which is an internet way of saying “trust me, your name is there”. Click on image to enlarge.

19 Sep 2026

Telegraph Pole Appreciation Day 2026

posted in: Appreciating, Appreciation Day, Submissions |

Grand Photography Competition

Yes, this year (21^st Sep) to celebrate these wonderful silent sentinels that are tall, wooden, sticky-uppy and got wires coming out of the top all at the same time, we’re running a grand telegraph pole photograph competition.

Some might say this is just a ruse to get enough photos to finish off the 2027 calendar, but also to try to acquire enough for the 2028 one. Nonsense we say. So the rules are:

Must be landscape mode (I know, daft isn’t it)
Be of a telegraph pole or power pole.
Have some interesting background scenery.
Be of high enough resolution to be used in a calendar
Come with your permission to use on either this website or said calendar. Or a postcard even. You get a freebie whatever if we use it.
Tell us a bit about it – eg where is it etc.
We’ll think of a 7th rule as soon as the first person tries it on to slip past the first 6.

So, the prize is a wonderful TPAS Mug. Scientifically proven that tea tastes better in one of these. And also a copy of the new calendar – when they come out – with your wonderful picture on, probably. A 2027 calendar anyway whether yours is in it or not.

Just look at what you could win: (That’s only a draft front cover of the new calendar by the way.)

Samples:

So here are a few that were either in previous calendars, or postcards or that we just liked. The pic can just be a close-up of the gubbins at the top. It can also be power poles. Send your entries attached to an email to: martin@telegraphpoleappreciationsociety.org Good luck. Oh, closing date… 30th Sept just after the Archers has finished on Radio Four. T&Cs. I’m sure there should be some. We accept no responsibility for anything at all.

28 Oct 2025

TPAS 2026 Calendar

posted in: Photos, Stuff for Sale, Telegraph Poles, The Telegraph Pole Appreciation Society |

Just when the news is full of dreadful things, here’s something to spark your day/month/year – the Telegraph Pole Appreciation Calendar is now with the printers and is expected to be delivered to TPAS Towers around 5th November. And as is bloody typical, just an hour after I’d sent off the artwork I spotted something I had intended to change. I’ll have to live with it now.

Anyway, here is what the April page looks like. A whole quid cheaper than last year too. Just £9.99 + p&p. No, I don’t know how we do it either. Have a look at it on the ordering page to see what else is on the other months. So celebrate the next year with twelve glorious months of views with telegraph poles in them. Wonderful.

A mockup of April 2026 TPAS calendar showing the dates with a photo above of a 6 armed pole on the isle of Eigg with the isle of Rum in the background.

15 May 2025

Eigg Nog

posted in: Country poles, Gorgeousness, History, Photos, Telegraph Poles |

The entire staff of TPAS Towers recently undertook a telegraph pole expedition to the wee small isles in the inner Hebrides. Starting on the Isle of Eigg – an island entirely comfortable with rabbits, sheep and generating it’s own electricity – we settled in to our shed-esque accommodation and plotted the week’s hiking. Day one we discovered the bizarre bed-spring Heath-Robinson effort you see below. This seemed to be collecting the output from a small stream driven hydro-scheme just up from Galmisdale. Nothing but a climb up Eigg’s wonderful “An Sgùrr” mountain (393m) on day #2 and a trip to the telegraph pole free island of Muck on day 3.

Then day #4 we were walking the island’s only real road towards Laig Bay in the north and my internal telegraph pole detector started to ping. Peeping between the leaves of some birch trees was the tip of a redundant five-armed telegraph pole. I had just, that very morning, been reading about an old telegraph system that ran from Eigg, under the sea and across to Rum and then over again to Canna further north. This must be a remnant from those days. Now lost, forgotten and unnoticed. Until now, that is. I had to clamber down a steep hill and hack my way through some severe brambles to get to it but what is a few slashes, infected wounds and dislocated knees in pursuit of such beautiful telegraphic history?

Day #5 took us to Rum and, whilst there was nothing much there to telegraph to, it did at least allow us to join up the terms “Eigg” and “Rum” and make Eigg Nog. Thanks to poet Simon Cockle for the punny title to this post.

Our final evening saw us back at Laig bay, only a different route off the beach and my internal pole alarm started going bezerk. I looked about to see what could be causing this mental commotion when we spotted the rest of the redundant pole run coming down the distant hillside. Seven poles in all. We had a ferry to catch so only had time to squeeze some distant shots with phone camera held up to my binoculars and avow to come back possibly next year for a closer look. We did find a dead one however being consumed by the grass and so liberated a small part of that as a souvenir before it’s lost forever.

That wasn’t the end of our telegraph pole adventures though. On the way up I’d spotted a handful of neat four-armers roadside near Corpach, Fort William. As if that wasn’t enough already – further investigation and a nip up a side road revealed a stunning run of six-armers at Fassfern, also near Fort Bill. One final treat at Ballachulish – 3 armer with all it’s insulators missing (is that you Jake?) but a stunning backdrop of Sgorr Dheearg & Sgorr Dhonuill and also the road bridge itself. Well, well well as we say now back in Wales.

8 Jul 2024

Aurora Telegraphpolealis

posted in: Appreciating, Gorgeousness, New Poles, Submissions, Telegraph Poles |

The February 2023 Telegraph Pole Appreciation Society Calendar page. Showing the month and a photo of a silhouetted DP taken against a dawn orange sky.

Who could ever forget February 2023? For it was after that last day of a cold dark and windy January that most of us flipped our TPAS Calendar over to a new month revealing Hazel Long’s magnificent dawn pole (above) – bringing renewed joy and hope into the hearts of this telegraph pole appreciating nation. Or something like that.

Well, Hazel has moved house. Not that far from the original Brighouse photo – and still within Yorkshire – where they play cricket, throw rocks at Lancastrians and make tea. To a place called Scapegoat Hill to join the 1,246 other inhabitants who all came out to marvel at the new pole (right). Said pole is so new it hasn’t been wired up to anything yet. Once connected it will doubtless allow residents to add Yorkshire Tea , Terry’s Chocolate Oranges and Henderson’s Relish to their weekly online grocery order.

Hazel tells us she likes a spartan life and to be in bed by 8pm and so missed the aurora borealis northern light show that not so long ago blessed our skies. Luckily, son James was still up and captured the DP of magnificence you see below. I presume this too was in Yorkshire. Actually, it looks like the old place. Anyway, this has all prompted me to do some research on a county I’ve only ever visited once: Puddings of course. Those flat, soggy, slightly burnt things that people have with their sunday dinner. They’re from Yorkshire. The world’s yappiest dog breed comes from Yorkshire too. These handbag sized mutts have yapped their way under the skin of many a quiet-loving neighbour. Seth Armstrong was the county’s most famous beer drinker and supped more than 3,750 pints of ale during his tenure at the bar of the Woolpack Inn, Emmerdale, between 1978 and 2004. Emmerdale, formerly Emmerdale Farm, now regularly competes with Coronation Street for the most train crashes and aviation disasters in a half-hour light drama series.

A DP pole silhouetted in front of a colourful aurora sky.

6 May 2024

End of World is NOT yet nigh

posted in: Country poles, Foreign ones, Nothing to do with Telegraph Poles, Photos |

At the time of writing, and as far as I know, Mr Putin’s plutonium tipped armageddon is NOT presently on its way to mither my little backwater in west Wales. They would surely have said something on radio four if it were. So at 4:12 pm on bank holiday Monday I can safely put the title to this post. Trouble is I’m not sure of the timescale they’re talking about when they say “nigh”.. If nigh is the four minutes of the eponymous warning from the 1970s then I should still be ok for another cup of tea. But if “nigh” refers to any quantity of time greater than 4 minutes, then yes, I suspect the end is, in fact, nigh. In mathematics this might be written as End=t>4.

What’s he blathering on about I hear both you and me saying? What I’m trying to say are two things. That (a) all is well with the world if I can find the time (in a hectic life) to post some telegraph pole photos and (b) If nigh was indeed imminent, then here are some telegraph poles to fill your remaining four minutes.

Back to Ireland again. Yes, I know, my fantasy job as globe-trotting espionater often takes me over there with time off between top secret missions to spot poles and also interesting railway station paraphernalia. Herewith: Can’t quite remember where this hairily ivied pole was but then we stopped at Roscrea Station, Co. Tipperary for a good nerdle. Then on to Birr, Co. Offaly for those interesting petrol pumps and finally, a bookshop in Thurles (pronounced Turlies) where I found that intriguing book. Who cares what it says inside it, it’s got poles on the front.

One regret was that whilst in Roscrea, I didn’t take a photo of “Breens Footwear” shop. Google streetview will give you an idea of how it was in 2019. Let’s just say the last five years have not been kind to it.

7 Sep 2023

A Nude Linesman in Oz

posted in: Adornments, Country poles, Foreign ones, Found Poles, Hardware, History, Insulators, Oddities, Photos, Telegraph Poles, Vintage |

I can’t believe how long it’s taken me to get this post up on to the website. Jerry Deacon, who sent this to me, can’t believe how long it’s taken either. And Jerry, I’ve just realised is none other than (previously plugged on here) Kilgraney Sleepers (now railwaysleepers.com) – the place to go for old railway sleepers (the clue is in the name) but also old and new telegraph poles for ornamental and nerdic use. Nice plug for you there Jerry; I trust that this is adequate recompense for my tardiness.

Anyway, back in March. Jerry wrote to tell us that as an intrepid explorer he came across Hamelin Pool Telegraph Station (1884) near Shark Bay in Western Australia. There is a definite passion for telegraph poles in Oz. In October 1872 the Overland Telegraph line between Darwin and Adelaide was completed, and the Australian telegraph network became linked directly to Europe (termite attacks notwithstanding). Hamelin station was established as a repeater station that linked Western Australia into this same network. And this is the last of these stations still extant. Now, for some reason, it features, quite prominently, a nude linesman attending to the pole top apparatus. Why this should be is anyone’s guess and Jerry offers no explanation, nor does anything at the station itself. Though he did suggest Nude Pole of the Month as a possible new feature for these very pages. I’m going to pretend he never said that.

A placard at Hamelin Pool Telegraph Station describing it's history.

Exterior view of Hamelin Telegraph Station, showing weather checking apparatus.

15 Jul 2023

Moochin’ about in Mullingar

posted in: Appreciating, Country poles, Foreign ones, Found Poles, Insulators, Photos, Railway poles, Vintage |

Messing about in Ireland again! Well I only live a modest distance from the ferry at Fishguard, so it’d be churlish not to. A splendid overnight in James Joyce’s former watering hole, the very fine Greville Arms Hotel, in the midlands town of Mullingar in Co. Westmeath. Mullingar won’t ever win any tidy town awards but it had an old Irish charm all of its own. And the railway station had a further delight for us in the overlooked, disused and too-close-to-everything-to-chop-down ancient telegraph pole you see below. And a station on a bend is worth two in the bush or something.

People who like telegraph poles often like old railways too and vice-versa. I’m no different. So next day we found ourselves at Castletown (5 miles SE) walking ye olde rail trail that once ran between Mullingar and Athlone (you remember Athlone don’t you?) Our meeting, along said trail, with an elderly Irish gentleman whose wonderful accent and false teeth that rattled as he talked is a story for another time, perhaps over a pint of something black and nourishing. Anyway, this trail still has lengths of track in places and is a haven for wildlife. In fact, Ireland is fully fifty years behind our UK depletion of nature. I hope they learn from our mistakes. The final photo in the sequence is a delightful croc-face replete with insulators and insulating coat of ivy. This was on the way home in Co. WIcklow. Without further ado.

Platform and disused pole at Mullingar station, Ireland

11 Apr 2023

Soothsaying

posted in: Appreciating, Country poles, Electricity Poles, Foreign ones, Oddities, Photos, Telegraph Poles |

Not a lot of people know that I once stood as a Green Party candidate for a by-election in North Wales. I didn’t win. Nor did I come second. I don’t think third was what I was either. But I wasn’t last. And at the count the returning officer asked us all to say a few words to the gathered press and onlookers. This took me by surprise so I donned my soothsaying cloak of flabberghastion and defiantly declared that whilst they probably hadn’t voted for me today they would all be voting green one day. Talk about bold proclamation!

Anyway, it’s the soothsaying bit I’m trying to get to. I am in receipt of the photos you see below from two women correspondents. Both of whom move in high echelons. You know, meetings in boardrooms, with carafes of specially stilled water on oaken tables; white boards on the wall, minutes taken, the lot. If I had soothseen twenty years ago that one day they would be sending photos of telegraph poles to a strange man in Wales they would have laughed in my face.

And yet, here they are: Carter Wall, we have discussed before, is a mover and shaker in the supply of American energy. She is heavily into sustainable energy (me too in a saving-the-butt-ends-of-candles kind of way) and she lives at arguably the best address ever: Rattlesnake Gutter, Massachusetts. Carter was walking with her sister at Yarmouth Port on Cape Cod when they spotted the Heath Robinson splinted half-cocked pole replacement affair you see here. It was her sister, knowing of Carter’s history with this society, who suggested sending it to us. “Indeed, it’s an interesting conundrum for the pole-setter” she says, “a tight site with no room to set a new pole next to the old one as they usually do. Tough job.” Indeed.

Pippa, the sender of the other two pics is a former colleague of mine who must be surprised herself that not only does she remember me, but that she has developed herself an eye for poles. All the while supporting Tottenham Hotspur. You couldn’t make this stuff up. The dawn/dusk pole below is reminiscent of our very own February photo from the TPAS 2023 calendar. Now sold out, alas. Or should that be hooray? The second photo is taken through a train on St. Kitts. Alas, these last two came to me via social media and so suffered horribly from their compression algorithms. Without further ado, thank you Pippa and Carter:

A replacement power pole in a quiet leafy street in Yarmouth Port, Cape Cod that has been strapped to the original broken pole. — Many splintered thing – a daughter pole in Cape Cod. Exact coordinates available upon request.

A telegraph distibution pole against a reddening dusk sky. — St. Albans, taken yesterday in January 2020

View from a train window on St. Kitts of a road with a line of power poles alongside. — St. Albans, taken yesterday in January 2020

18 Mar 2023

Half-armed in Co. Wexford

posted in: Country poles, Foreign ones, Found Poles, Insulators, Photos, Telegraph Poles |

Not having advertised our trimestral trip to the land of Emeralds (and Six Nations grand slammers) meant that we returned home to an unburgled house this week. Which was nice. The key was under the mat where we left it and granny was still in her annex watching re-runs of The Exorcist and chewing upon the remains of the toffees we left for her in the automatic cat feeder; timed to release two Werthers Originals per hour. Lovely. Now to wade our way through the pile of TV licence reminders received in our absence.

Our homeward journey started in the top left hand corner, specifically, Inishowen, Co. Donegal and we travelled almost exclusively by ‘B’ roads*¹ all the way to the bottom right hand corner and our rendezvous with the good ship Stena Europe at Rosslare. That ageing tub couldn’t handle the swell and high winds in the Irish sea on the Monday, so we had an extra day to meander even more. Our route took us down the west coast past Sligeach, almost to Galway then meandered hither and thither seeking out interesting potholes and pubs with the most sidelines*².

“Get to the telegraph poles man!”

Day #2 found us, in the drizzle still, on the R680 between Clonmel and the rather Frenchie sounding Carrick on Suir. This is the mother of all “B” roads. Potholes aplenty, and then these half-armed beauties hidden among the roadside foliage. The first one was the best, but I couldn’t stop as it was a narrow road and I had a car up my arse*³. These are genuine half-arms, not rotted off or stolen, the real thing. Rather than sort through them*⁴, here, enjoy the lot.

*¹ They’re called “R” roads over there.
*² Saw one premises that advertised: Pub (naturally), Petrol, Coal, Newspapers, hairdresser, hardware)
*³ Can I say this on this website? Turns out I can. (arse /ɑːs/ noun: (i) buttocks (ii) stupid person (iii) verb, tailgating, driving too close behind, being an /ɑːs/)
*⁴ It’s late, Match of the Day will be on the telly in a minute.

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