These much ignored pieces of rural and urban furniture finally have a website of their own.
This is not the site to visit for technical information pertaining to telegraph poles. You'll find nothing about 10KVa transformers, digital telephone networking or even so much as a single volt. This is a website celebrating the glorious everyday mundanitude of these simple silent sentinels the world over. 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.
Telegraph Poles on British Pathé
Just thought I’d share this…
A vintage pole run
Enough of all the forerunning festive frivolity. A new year, so new earnestness in our telegraph pole appreciating. And in light of that, I’ve been saving this next item for weeks now…
Robin Hughes wrote in to tell us that the lane near his house was once a significant highway but is now just called Blackhurst Lane. Up until 1912 this road was the demarcation line between National Telephone Company’s area of Tunbridge Wells and the GPO’s “Trunk Area”.
There remains a run of telegraph poles still in use today and incredibly six of them have GPO 1910 clearly notched into them.
Oldest in Kent perhaps? he asks.
At the time these poles were erected Blackurst Lane was, for many, the ride of shame as the Tonbridge Union Workhouse stood at the Northern end. When they built the Pembury bypass the lane was dissected and these poles now sit in a quiet no through road. No doubt assisting in their preservation.
What really made me smile was the fact that in that part of the lane the only pole displaying an A1024 warning notice (pole needs replacing) was a comparative youngster “only” dating back to 1960!
Best Regards
Robin,
Apologies Robin, for holding on to these photos for so long. For me it was worth it though, as it sets a benchmark for telegraph pole watching in 2015.
{rapidgallery thumbwidth:145;thumbheight:145;}robinhughes{/rapidgallery}
New Year’s Honours
The Telegraph Pole Appreciation Society’s new year’s honours list is strongly recognised by the British establishment*1. These awards are for persons deemed to have striven towards excellence in the appreciation and preservation of telegraph poles during the preceding twelve months.
The most prestigious of the awards has to be Dame Commander given to Nottinghamshire based patron of telegraph pole scrapyards, Claire Pendrous. The full list is below. A few honorary memberships are also handed out. There are no medals as such*2 for honorary awards, but members are herewith entitled to write the word “honorary” in felt-pen onto their certificate.
The Telegraph Pole Appreciation Society – New Year’s Honours 2015
This as a decoration addition to his self-titled “Lord of the Northern Poles”
Kev can now call himself Lord or Commander or Lord-Commander (of the Northern Poles) whichever he prefers.
Keith is already Honorary Technical Adviser (H.T.A.T.P.A.S.)
John Brunsden (#0469)
Adrian Trainsett Esq. (#0484)
David Kendrick’s Cobra treated pole is quite a find. In my 13 years of being a Post Office poles inspector I never came across one. Cobra treatment was a method of prolonging a pole’s life by injecting preservative under pressure by means of a syringe, at the vulnerable ground level point (where moisture and oxygen encourage the growth of rot). This 1957 pole was 10 years before my pole inspecting life and I wonder was it a telephone pole or electric cable carrier, was it near a railway line? It would be interesting to know more.
Keith S****. H.T.A.
Well, over to you David Kendrick (#0609H).
Finally, Commander/Lord of the Northern Poles, Kev Currie wrote in to say “long may yer lums reek!” Aye, Kev, my lums do fairly reek, but missus TPAS is trying out some new washing powder so we hope to have that sorted soon 😉
*1 We checked and nobody actually says that it isn’t.
*2 Nor for anyone else really unless you print and cut them out off here.
Enough to make a grown man cry
I‘ve rattled on before about some of the lofty professorial types who frequent these pages – as much as anything to justify to Mrs TPAS that all these lonely hours spent in shed exile are in a worthy cause. And if David Kendrick (#609) had one of those Toblerone-shaped desk boards with all his academic qualifications listed at one character per inch, then he would need a board 7 ft 6 ins wide – and nearly 10 ft long if ’twere to include his name. So when someone like that writes to you, you sit up.
Dear Martin,
Although many a time and oft’ I see poles that I am inclined to record upon my computing machine, it is rarely I find such a sad sight as this.
Near to Bromyard in the fair county of Herefordshire, whist walking with a friend yesterday, we came across this sad, sad sight. The stub of a maliciously felled Cobra 1957 pole left languishing, but still firmly and proudly rooted, in a field. I wonder if fellow members would wish to see this and to keep their eyes peeled for similar wanton destruction.
I remain, fraternally yours,
David.
That is indeed a sad sight David, and whilst I’m glad you brought it to our attention, I’m afraid I can offer you little by way of comfort. To those who don’t appreciate poles as we do (yes, they do exist) this is just a wooden sticky up thing that was probably getting in the way. You have to look at it like you would when you find a recently squashed hedgehog, sad, but it’s probably best to just put it out of your mind, go home and have a nice cup of tea in a Telegraph Pole Appreciation Society Mug (£8.99 inc p&p).
Back at the beginning of 2011, you may remember I rescued some telegraph pole bits from a work-gang of telegraph pole executioners along the B5105 in North Wales. Well one of their gang, Ged McCarthy, remembered us, and via the wonders of the modern facebook age he sent us a pic of an amazing pole he saw in Lincoln. Well here it is. And much appreciated it is too. Ged is quite amazing insomuch as he writes in a broad Liverpool accent.
Now, as it’s Christmas and I find myself with some time, I have been perusing the wonderful Flickr photo streams for telegraph pole photos. I never pinch any, I just appreciate them. And believe me, some people on there really get telegraph poles. See for yourself by clicking here.
Finally, if your name is Robin Hughes and you’re from Kent then you’re probably wondering when the hell I’m going to publish the fantastic photos of some ancient Tunbridge poles you sent. All I can say is sorry. I forget lots of things (these days) but I haven’t forgotten those. Same goes for anyone who sends me stuff to publish – I do get them all up eventually.
Have a wonderful Telegraph Pole Appreciating Christmas everyone.
Archaeology vs Telegraphology
Warm congratulations to the good readers of Current Archaeology magazine who recently unearthed us during an excavation of page 50 of their January issue #298. Did you see what I did there? It’s that kind of clever stuff that wins awards and stuff. I think. Anyway, now you’re all here…
It may be a surprise to some but there is something of a cross-over between those erudite readers of Current Archaeology and the perusers of our own sage pages. We regularly feature people who dig stuff up. Look at the Poulton & Fylde railway lot for example. Or Claire Pendrous and her Openreach telegraph pole graveyard rummagings.
Ours is an interest that has it’s feet firmly in the past anyway – the telegraph, as a means of communication blossomed out of Victoriana through the 20th century to slide over the dying edge of a bell-curve into the internet era. We appreciators of telegraph pole aesthetics are surely closet harkers to a bygone age. Does that not sound like an archaeologist anyway? Ok, they do get to find the odd priceless treasure trove during their digs, whereas the most we might find is a cracked LNER Cordeaux worth precisely zero. But at least we don’t get cursed by Tutankhamun all that often.
Anyway, welcome to the whole lot of you. But in particular to C.A. reader Vicky Norman. She tells us that she was travelling on the “Rocky Mountaineer” from Jasper to Vancouver in 2012 and she noticed that the telegraph poles alongside the railway were in a great state of dilapidation which prompted her to write the following poem. For this we are grateful. Alas the photo accompaniment is somewhat out of focus but it does have a telegraph pole in it, and does set the scene nicely.
Communication years ago relied on wire and glass.
The sentinels of yesteryear look sad as they collapse
with leaning bodies, broken arms and wires askew and snapped.
Overgrown with woodland green and snow in winter’s grip
They disappear from human gaze like ancient monoliths.
The poles being wood have had their day but as they fall and die
Return to earth which nurtured them as spruce and stalwart pine
Theres no room left for brave old posts which helped the country grow
and now the fibre optic wires are carried down below.
Vicky Norman
R.S.P.C.T.P. (Nottingham branch)
Significant treasure trove unearthed in Lancashire
Funny how I could have missed this story on News at Ten…
A group of railway restorers clearing a disused line in Lancashire dug up a rather thin telegraph pole from the undergrowth. To said pole were attached a pair of iron foot rests and also the conical metal finial you see in the picture below. The discovery was made at the disused station of Burn Naze – currently undergoing some restorative work by way of opening the old line to Fleetwood by the Poulton and Wyre Railway Society. It was their member, John Davies-Allen, who contacted the Telegraph Pole Appreciation Society to ask about finials but also to broadcast news of this discovery to the wider world. I will now stand to face the general direction of Poulton-le-Fylde and applaud the efforts of these fine people in putting right some of Mr Beeching’s (and his successors) wrongs.
That Reuters or ITN didn’t pick up on all this, though, is a mystery to me. Seems there’s one rule for buried Viking gold treasure and another for rusting LNWR telegraph pole finials.
Anyway, whilst the Victorians are often credited with the idea of topping their poles with finials – they had more money in those days after all – wooden finials were fitted well into the 1930s and metal ones are reported to have been in use later still.
Finally this week. We received a lovely email from Lol from Gmail. Lol tells us:
LOL…. I thought you would like to know that I have zero appreciation for telegraph poles.
Thanks for that information Lol. We will keep your letter on file and should a need arise for someone who doesn’t appreciate telegraph poles we’ll be sure to get back to you.
Rubber boots essential
Time to address the inbalance in GPO vs Power poles pictured on this site.
Society Member #0597, Michael Donnithorne sent us this picture of some poles carrying high voltage (HV) electricity across Carnsew tidal pool in Hayle, Cornwall. The twin pole carries two circuits, an 11KV and a 33KV.
I must also apologise to Michael – For I’ve had to crop the beautifully composed photograph that he sent in such that it best suits the space I have available on this page allowing sufficient room for me to ramble on by way of apologising for making said crop.
Sorry.
Pole of the Month – September 2014
The Samaritans would have been busy in my part of the world on Monday night. My favourite team of complete under-achievers managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory agaiinst our most severest of rivals with just 12 seconds of added time remaining*1. Footballers, I think, have little comprehension what this might mean to us who watch from the terraces week-in week out. There are probably a few more cats cowering this week as a result. Quite a few sorrows drowned too I shouldn’t wonder in the stupefied fug of after-match pub-debriefings. And my finger nails are bloodied and gnawed down to the quick from those last few tense moments of a much anticipated derby match.
Thank heavens then that I am the Chief Executive Officer of the world’s premier society of Telegraph Pole Appreciators. And I came home to an inboxed email containing the following photos of telegraphular gorgeousness kindly sent in by John Brunsden (#0469)…
Not much to report lately, but spotted this old school pole in the Exe Valley between Bampton and Tiverton in Devon last week. 1937 Vintage, not many like this left !
Just used as a carrier pole for the Aerial Cable now…Happy Telegraph Pole Appreciation Day Tomorrow
John Brunsden.
Not much to report, he says. If only he knew how he’d single handedly saved my day, our cat’s ribs and that bottle of Talisker which can keep its cork until Christmas now as intended. Enjoy…
*1 In case you’re interested it was Chester sodding City 2 Wrexham 1 !!!
21st September is Telegraph Pole Appreciation Day
As if you could forget.
The good burghers of Beltra, Co. Sligo, have really got into the swing of it this year with this spectacularly dressed beauty outside their village hall. All in celebration of those tall wooden stick-like things with wires coming out of the top that we know and love as telegraph poles.
So, don’t forget, wherever you are, get out and appreciate a telegraph pole this September 21st.