The weir on the Thames in Reading is fairly unique in the UK as it has a public right of way over it. Many years ago, the only river bridge in the town was Caversham Bridge and the weir, being almost a mile further downstream, served as the towns second crossing. In the very early 1900's, a new road bridge (Reading Bridge) was built quite close to the weir but the public right of way remained and is still recognised today. As a thoroughfare, the path was lit with, in those days, gas lamps. These have all been replaced with electric lights for some years now but two of the old lamp posts still exist - albeit without the glass tops. One of the posts, on the path near to the lock, is completely overgrown with Ivy but the one on the weir is clear. This is a detail of the lamp post top of the one on the weir and shows the brackets that once held the lamp assembly. I am old enough to remember some of the side streets still lit by gas lamps but I don't recall ever seeing these in use which probably means that they have been out of service for at least the last fifty years. Also, as far as I'm aware, these are the only two gas lamp posts still in this town. This must be a very old design as the working gas lamps that I remember had the gas pipe inside the post rather than clamped on the outside as this one has. ------------------------------- Original Photograph: 17-Sep-2007