EHL230. Fire Plug cover. Location: Ratton Road adjacent to the rear boundary wall of St. Helena Court (Mill Road), Eastbourne. what3words location: sing.rocks.energetic

Fire Plug pavement access cover.  Many of these can be found in the older parts of Eastbourne and are smaller than the later ‘Fire Hydrant’ covers, as the valve itself is obviously the smaller ‘Loose Valve Hydrant’ type (pictured from Willcox’s 1930 catalogue below) as opposed to the ‘Sluice Valve Hydrant’ design.  Although the wall plates marked ‘F.P.’ marking the location of these hydrants were changed (with a few exceptions) to the now familiar ‘H’ plates, the ‘F.P.’ pavement covers were left unchanged.  The ‘modern’ H wall plate associated with this cover is obviously an old imperial design as the upper number is ‘5’ for a five-inch mains pipe, and the lower figure is also a ‘5’ to indicate the mains pipe is five feet from the sign.  My copy of Willcox’s trade catalogue also shows that ‘F.P.’ pavement covers (listed as ‘Surface Boxes’) were still being sold in 1930 alongside ‘Fire Hydrant’ covers.