Did they really use these for street lights and warmth in the Victorian London?

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These sconces or lamps were not used in Victorian London. The Georgian era brought legislation that required certain households to have lighting outside their houses between March and September from dusk to dawn. Most households in London were required to hang lamps or pay for a lamp service but they were typically oil lanterns. This was assuming that you had the money to have a lantern

The oil lamps effectively illuminated the pavements but not the roadways as the small flame and the lack of a reflector resulted in very limited spread of light. Furthermore, lighting was concentrated around shops and in fashionable streets where there were the most rate-payers. Poorer areas and streets with few houses remained sparsely lit, if at all. Refuelling the lamps, trimming and replacing the wicks and lighting them was time-consuming and expensive.

As time progressed into the 18th century they started adding refractors and using better oil to provide better light. Then in the 19th Century, gas became available and then eventually electrical lights

Minor improvements in lighting occurred with successive developments in the design of oil lamps in the late 18th century, including some with convex reflectors to cast more light downwards. The Argand oil lamp was the most significant of these, becoming the lighting of choice for the homes of the wealthy at the end of the century, but it was expensive, little used for street lighting. Here the major breakthroughs were the introduction of gas lighting at the start of the 19th century, the development of the gas mantle late in the century, and the introduction of electric arc lighting at its end.

Our current street lamps or driveway lights reflect the similar style of the time only now we use electricity instead of oil

As for the barrels on the ground; I can only imagine the fire code, even then, would have not wanted open flames everywhere in London after 1666, the year of the Great Fire of London.

https://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/street-lighting/street-lighting.htm

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