Salford Circus, Birmingham


Salford Circus in Birmingham is located underneath Gravelly Hill Interchange (Spaghetti Junction) - and it's this concealment that makes some of its lanterns the definition of hidden in plain sight. Around the roundabout are several Philips MA50s which are easy to miss if you don't know where to look. These are the versions with the spigot and integral gear for 135W SOX.

They are all mounted to the roof of the roads above, using metal extensions with side-entry spigots welded to them.

Visible on the rear side of the unusual brackets are what appear to be some kind of timers to control the MAs switching, although the images aren't brilliant so I'm not 100% sure.

Two more MA50s are visible in the image below. The second is a little harder to spot!

The supply cables come through a pipe in the roof - I'm unsure as to whether these fittings operate at night anymore or are abandoned.

The final MA50 to be photographed was this one, peering from underneath the bridge.