Electrical service / section pillar at east end of Wellington Park, Belfast, BT9 6RT

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Small freestanding cast-iron electrical 'service' or 'section pillar', sited at the edge of a pavement, which originally housed electrical components probably relating to Belfast’s former tram (and later, trolleybus) network and as such possibly of 1905 or slightly later. It is located on the north side of the eastern end of Wellington Park, close to the junction with Malone Road.

The 'pillar' is actually a stocky cabinet of cube-like proportions, roughly 0.7m in height, rectangular in plan (about 0.5m x 0.4), and broadly Classical in styling. It consists of a plain plinth above which are panelled faces with an oversailing cushioned cap with hipped shallow-pitched top. On both of the longer north and south faces is a hinged door upon which is the arms of the City of Belfast. The pillar's original paint finish has largely weathered away, though a few fragmented patches of green paintwork remain.

Historical information

This small metal cabinet was a ‘service pillar’ or ‘section / isolation pillar’, whose function was to house electrical equipment, most commonly a junction for the general power supply, or an isolator for electrically powered transport systems. The latter were required by legislation to be positioned every half mile, and were used to isolate part of the tram / trolleybus route, stopping the electricity running through a particular section, or to make the current bypass the pillar, enabling engineers to work on it whilst the network itself continued to run.

This particular pillar (if indeed part of the transport system) would have served the tramline which ran along Malone Road, and as such may have been installed in 1905 when Belfast Corporation electrified the City’s tramways. However, it is much smaller (and slightly less ornate) than the only other known surviving pillar at the south end of Linenhall Street [see HB26.30.116] and as such may be more recent than the latter, which is believed to be one of the originals of 1905.

The pillar was presumably ‘decommissioned’ when the trolleybus successors to the trams were taken out of service in 1968.

References - primary sources
1 ‘Belfast News-Letter’, 14 June 1905, p.7
2 ‘Belfast Evening Telegraph’, 6 December 1905
3 ‘The Engineer’, 15 April 1927

Secondary sources
4 Maybin, Mike, ‘A nostalgic look at Belfast trams since 1945’, (Silver Link Publishing, 1994)
5 Maybin, Mike, ‘Belfast’s lost tramways’, (Stenlake Publishing, 2003)
6 Maybin, Mike, ‘Ireland in the age of the trolleybus - Belfast 1938-1968’ (Silver Link Publishing, 2005)
7 Maybin, Mike, ‘Belfast transport’, (Fonthill Media, 2018)

Secondary sources - online
8 http://www.historywebsite.co.uk/articles/lucy/lucyboxes.htm
9 https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/BTH#cite_note-19
10 http://www.tramwaybadgesandbuttons.com/page148/page4/page213/page213.html

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
Z. Rarity
W. Northern Ireland/International Interest

Evaluation

Small, freestanding cast-iron electrical 'service’ or 'section pillar' sited at the edge of a pavement, which is likely to have housed electrical components relating to Belfast’s former tram (and later, trolleybus) network. Broadly Classical in styling and dating to 1905 or slightly later, it is thought to be one of only one of three such pillars to have survived and quite possibly one of the very few remaining structures associated with Belfast's tramways. It is largely intact externally and aside from its rarity, remains attractive piece of early 20th century street furniture in its own right.