Lantern lights are classically the centre piece for entrance hallways and porticos. Browse our collection of fine quality antique lanterns and our own contemporary take on this classic luminaire.
The lantern is the oldest enclosed light there is, a flame behind glass, carried, hung, sheltered, and four centuries on it still does something no other shape quite manages: it makes an entrance. In a hall, over a porch, down a stairwell, a lantern says welcome before a word is spoken.
Our lantern lights are made and restored in our Herefordshire workshop, as we have done since 1982. The collection runs from made-to-order pieces, the Grafton Globe Lantern, Hereford Globe Hall Lantern, Harewood End classic hall lantern, Sellack, Ledbury and Aston, to restored antiques like our Rococo Revival lantern and scrolling gilt lantern with frosted glass.
Every antique is restored, rewired in line with current standards and safety-tested; every new lantern is made to order, sized and dropped to your hall. The rule of thumb: a hall lantern can be a quarter to a third of the ceiling height in drop, and halls forgive scale. Tell us your dimensions and we will recommend honestly.
A lantern light is an enclosed glass fitting, clear, opal or frosted panels in a metal frame, descended from the carried lanterns of the candlelit centuries. Modern lanterns light halls, porches, stairwells and landings with warm, sheltered glow. Fritz Fryer makes and restores them in Herefordshire.
Halls forgive scale: a lantern can generously fill the space, with a drop of a quarter to a third of the ceiling height, keeping 2.1 metres of clearance beneath where people walk. A lantern that is too small always looks lost. Tell us your hall dimensions and we will recommend a size before we make it.
Yes, more than any other fitting. Lanterns have lit halls continuously since the Georgian era, so they sit naturally in period houses, and a restored antique lantern carries genuine history with it. In modern homes a clean-lined globe lantern adds character without costume.
Ours are. Every antique lantern we sell is dismantled, restored, rewired in line with current standards and safety-tested in our Herefordshire workshop before sale, with glass panels checked and sympathetic repairs made by hand. Untested antique lanterns from general dealers should always be rewired before use.
Purpose-made exterior lanterns, built and rated for the weather, light porches and entrances beautifully, but indoor lanterns must stay indoors. Tell us where the lantern is going and we will confirm honestly whether the fitting you have in mind suits the spot, and what rating it needs.
Yes. All our lanterns take LED bulbs and dim normally with dimmable LEDs on a compatible dimmer, and a dimmed lantern in the evening is one of the most welcoming lights a house can have. Warm-white filament-style LEDs keep the candlelit character at very low running cost.
Yes. Every new lantern is made to order in our Herefordshire workshop, with the drop set to your ceiling and hall, from a low cottage entrance to a double-height stairwell, and finishes matched to your door furniture and scheme. Send us your ceiling height and we will do the rest.
Made-to-order lanterns are priced comparably with premium retail brands, rising with size; restored antiques are priced individually by period, rarity and condition. Either way you are buying real glass and metal, four decades of craft, and a fitting made or remade to last generations.
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