The Blue Lamp.

I was looking for the blue lamp that usually hung outside Cambridge Railway station's Police House but it had gone. I asked a policeman where it was and as they have a new building, it was in store. I was disappointed so he 'escorted' me to the storeroom and fetched it out so that I could get a picture. I didn't like to ask him to level it up for me as he was on duty and had to get back to the station entrance. Like the British Bobby's distinctive hat, tunic and truncheon, the blue lamp was once a symbol of a policed public realm and enabled the police station to be located in the fog and darkness. At the old Bow Street police station in London, the blue lamp was changed to a white one as Queen Victoria said it reminded her of Prince Albert, who died in the Blue Room. It would have been nice to have seen this lamp lit up in the original setting. There are still several about on the older Police Stations.