Telegraph Poles - black rods in ground

Just out of curiosity I've noticed in recent years when telegraph poles are installed / replaced there is a black rod buried in the ground at it base.

Does anybody know what this is for?

[img]https://i.ibb.co/12wcMVR/IMG-0642.jpg[/img]

Edited by Ripley (Wed 24-Nov-21 22:11:51)

In reply to a post by Ripley:

Just out of curiosity I've noticed in recent years when telegraph poles are installed / replaced there is a black rod buried in the ground at it base.

Does anybody know what this is for?

[img]https://i.ibb.co/12wcMVR/IMG-0642.jpg[/img]

It has a small cap on the top that can be removed and a depth gauge put down it to prove how deep it goes, a few years ago pole installers were caught cutting the bottoms of the poles off and not installing to the correct depth.

ah got you, makes sense

Thanks for the explanation