These Diazed fuses are quite alien to anything used in residential services in Britain.

In the past, the rewireable fuse was the most usual form of OCPD, and everybody was familiar with having to keep a card of fuse wire handy to repair them. What I find incredible is that these primitive devices were installed for so long in this country. Here's a Wylex type:
[Linked Image]

So far as I'm aware, Wylex is the only company still manufacturing rewireable fuse carriers. Their standard range panels will also accept BS1361 cartridge fuse carriers and plug-in MCBs, at least making them easy to upgrade.

I'll pull some more rlevant pictures that I've posted previously and add to this thread later.

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Well, work over this way, Paul (West Sussex, UK) in one particular area it is a very common site - loop in/out main - one cable (probably no more than 35mm with concentric neutral) running 6-8 houses each.
Which area of West Sussex is that Steve? Just curious -- I used to visit all around that area when I was a kid. Haven't been back there since about 1978, so I guess it's changed a little!

Dave,
On the three insulators on older Irish properties, could it be that they were supplied with 3-wire DC or even 3-wire single-phase AC originally?

I know from some of your earlier comments that 3-ph 220/380 distributrion was the norm by the time the rural electrification program was underway in Ireland, but maybe 3-wire DC/AC systems were once used in the older parts of the larger cities such as Dublin and Cork (i.e. those areas likely to have been wired for power in the early days).