Ceiling rose
Encyclopedia
In the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, a ceiling rose is a decorative element affixed to the ceiling from which a chandelier or light fitting is often suspended. They are typically round in shape and display a variety of ornamental designs.

In modern British wiring setups, light fittings usually use loop-in ceiling roses, which also include the functionality of a junction box
Junction box
An electrical junction box is a container for electrical connections, usually intended to conceal them from sight and meter tampering. A small metal or plastic junction box may form part of an electrical conduit wiring system in a building, or may be buried in the plaster of a wall, concealed...

.

According to Dan Cruikshank and Neil Burton in Life in the Georgian City, the use of gas lighting in the new House of Commons in 1852 must have reassured many people of its safety, and perhaps marked the turning point in public perception. In the cities where gas mains supply was available, many houses adopted gas lighting from the 1860s.

These early fittings used 'fishtail' and 'batwing' burners, which were relatively inefficient. The flame smoked badly and in the more impressive houses built at this time, huge ceiling roses were designed to conceal ventilation grilles which conducted the fumes to a vent in the outside wall.

(extract from http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/light98/light98.htm)
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