A historic street lamp in Alton which was snapped in half in a road accident will be fixed, East Hampshire District Council has assured residents.

The accident happened on April 16 last year when a driver towing a horse box struck the Joseph Webb sewer gas destructor lamp outside 52 Kings Road while trying to avoid a collision with an oncoming car.

Resident Dickon Armstrong recently expressed concern over the fate of the lamp, which had been removed from the site.

He said: “I am interested to know what became of the lamp. Was it saved for a museum, destroyed or is it sitting waiting to be repaired?

“I always enjoyed seeing the lamp glowing, and being an important part of our heritage was very sad when it disappeared.”

Joseph Webb of Birmingham patented the lamp in 1895. It originally burned gas from the local sewage works, known as marsh gas, but was converted to run on North Sea gas.

It has been a Grade II listed building since August 1999, following an application by Altonian Arthur Blackham two months earlier. It is believed to have been the last lamp in southern England to burn marsh gas.

Last year Kings Road resident Herta Deverill said she hoped it could be restored as her late husband John Deverill “did his utmost” to keep the lamp going.

An East Hampshire District Council spokesperson said: “The 19th-century street lamp is an important part of Alton's heritage, so we are keen to have it repaired and retuned to the town.

“Due to its age and rarity we have contracted a specialist company to carry out the repairs and we are liaising with the insurance company to secure payment for the work.

“We hope to have it back in Alton as soon as it is ready.”