What are Ancient Lights and why did they ANNOY the BBC?

These strange signs can be found in dozens of locations around London.
What exactly are ancient lights and why did they annoy the BBC?

#bbc #london #ancientlights

Thumbnail photo: Mike Newman

[Bijomaru]

Short and to the point. I appreciate it's not one of those 20-minute videos explaining something that can be done in 3 minutes, like here. Well done, and thanks for sharing.

[guywilletts]

You don't need a sign to assert Rights of Light after 20 years use, and haven't needed one since 1832, when the Prescription Act was passed. Which means that all of these signs are now more than 190 years old, which is interesting enough in itself.

[juliegale]

My grandfather, Arthur Cooksey, was an architect and a specialist in Ancient Lights at the start of the last century in London. He was called into court to give his opinion on the subject when needed.

[akulkis]

Thanks for doing a good job explaining it without dragging it out for 15~30 minutes.

[ryanrevis]

You had me at “annoying the BBC” but then I listened to the reasons and I fully support this. We as humans NEED natural light.

[gorbyagusta]

Wow, I learn something new every day. Never even heard of ancient lights before.

[eattherich]

I love these little nuggets of history.

[genevincentrocks]

Up until around 1980 there was a cafe on Mill Lane NW6 called the Ancient Lights, because the building had Ancient Lights! Camden Council built a tower block next to this cafe on open land that had been an adventure playground for a while. Anyway the council had to change the plans and build it further away from the cafe because of the Ancient Lights. The cafe is now West Hampstead Arts Centre.

[Aiko--]

I live in Tokyo, Japan and we also have light-access laws. You often see buildings with strangely sloped roofs or odd designs which were required to allow the building next to it to have direct light.

[stewartclark]

I worked in a surveyors office in the City from 1965. One of my collegues was the 'rights to light surveyor' then a still active requirement.

[williamwilson]

One of the rare instances when a law solely favoured an individual, regardless of wealth or influence.

[alank]

Its the off-beat quirky videos like this that make Youtube interesting, many thanks for posting ....

[stevenrohleder]

A day in which you learn a thing is never a wasted day! Thank you from America.

[uhtred]

I travelled to London from NZ in 87 for a working holiday, and got a job as a motorcycle courier, you would think this would entail some sort of training, but on day one i was given a 2 way radio, an A to Z map book, and a list of about 200 clients, then sent on my way. 😆 After about 6 months i knew inner London as well as my hometown in NZ, but what i loved was finding all the small alleys, Mews, passage ways & hidden areas that are throughout London, the place is riddled with them. Went back a few years ago, but London is now a very different place.

[Larry]

The BBC just uploaded a video on a war over ancient lights on their YouTube Archive channel!

[samuelmelton]

In HKRUK II V Heaney, Marcus Heaney was granted an injunction by the courts against a tower development in Leeds which had reduced his light by 1%. The developers went ahead knowing they were diminishing neighbouring properties' light, and could not give adequate reasoning as to why they should be spared an injunction.

They were ordered to demolish two floors of the tower at a cost of over a million pounds. This was, however, settled outside court and the floors were not demolished.

If you don't make a point of protecting your right to something as simple as daylight, property developers will try their luck.

[EvasNan]

I often see buildings being built literally feet away from someones window thereby blocking their view and light, I think if it were me I'd be looking into this more, I never knew about it, thanks for the information and have a great day x

[mattdavis]

Another American here. I'm not sure why YouTube recommended this video to me; but, I'm very happy they did. This is fascinating. I also appreciate how the presenter got to the point instead of dragging the proceedings out like one so often sees on YouTube.

[mattallred]

I remember getting caught in the rain in London in January 2022 and winding up in the Newman Arms after coming through that alley. Charming little place. I have a picture on my phone of the ancient lights sign from that alley. I had no idea what it meant until now.

[derrickbunn]

Newman Passage was where Dennis Waterman and george Cole filmed the opening sequence for "Minder" - the leaning lampost. My office was behind the lampost and I watched the filming.