Post your Post Boxes! (Photos and fun facts)

[weepingwillowb]

I’ve been meaning to upload these for a while.
Outside the Rochdale Pioneers museum.
Pillar box with lamp on top.
Any more information about this sort of thing?
Never been aware of that before I saw this.

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Really interesting selection there. Not sure I’ve ever seen a mobile post office.

Strewth!!! The box with lamp looks totally bizarre.

There are currently over 60 Mobile Post Offices in the UK.

Mobile Post Offices

www.britishpostmarksociety.org.uk

 

[WesternLancer]

I had a double-take! Super photos of 1859-era First National Standard post box, complete with its intact hinged-iron flap over the posting-slot.

EDIT - @WesternLancer it is a sole survivor. Its location - at Rochdale's Pioneers Museum - is a clue...

It was an experimental design, inspired by street furniture in France, to serve a dual purpose: illuminating the street while also allowing people to find the box and read posting times after dark.
Dark bronze-green was the standard post box color in 1859 (before "pillar box red" was adopted in 1874); making post boxes difficult to sight at night, without dedicated lighting.
Its design proved too complex and expensive.
The museum has a rare survivor of Victorian postal history.

The box has current collection-plate and it might even still be active, albeit in the grounds of the museum. Excellent find!

Thanks for this very helpful information. Fascinating to read.
It is remarkable.
I wonder if others survive in the public realm?

I assumed it was active. Although on museum frontage it’s also pretty much part of the street along there which is a short terrace of shops and an excellent pub.
All cut through further down from the original street layout by a section of urban ring road albeit fortunately not too dominant.

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Which reminds me to upload these pictures I took at the National Railway Museum eating in the summer.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Which reminds me to upload these pictures I took at the National Railway Museum eating in the summer.

Oooh more superb Victorian examples! They look from the Penfold design era; the bronze-green one definitely Penfold; the other one perhaps a bespoke one by a different source.

 

[weepingwillowb]

The post box at Rathmell, a small village about three miles south of Settle, North Yorkshire, and it's outside what used to be the post office. Haven't been able to find when it closed, other than it was before 2011.

This can't be the original post box for a village the size of Rathmell (it still has a school) - could the original wall box have been replaced by a newer box? Lots of cement still evident around the box.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Such a timeless scene at Rathmell, @weepingwillowb - you do show us some truly wonderful locations, B!

I agree with you; the EIR cypher and, particularly, the much-smaller-than-standard sized wall box for usual EIIR castings, makes me also think the door's a bespoke replacement for an older wall box.
Definitely not a lamp-box sunk into the wall. Great find!

 

[weepingwillowb]

Such a timeless scene at Rathmell, @weepingwillowb - you do show us some truly wonderful locations, B!

I did think about using this photo which includes the old post office (now an Airbnb).

 

[WesternLancer]

I did think about using this photo which includes the old post office (now an Airbnb).

That gives a good sense of the place in that picture

 

[High Dyke]

I've yet to find a CIII pillar box.

I didn't pay much attention to this new installation yesterday, but got this shot earlier.

Image: CIIIR combined letter & parcel pillar box in Grantham.

 

[WesternLancer]

I didn't pay much attention to this new installation yesterday, but got this shot earlier.

Image: CIIIR combined letter & parcel pillar box in Grantham.
View attachment 209218

A good addition to the thread here - not seen one of these before I don't think.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Good spot @High Dyke and thanks for sharing. I'll keep my south coast eyes peeled for one!

 

[weepingwillowb]

Two boxes in Workington; I had to photograph the double box at an angle because the sun was directly behind it from the front. Just a thought - it looks as though the pillar box has had a poster removed from it, and I'm guessing that it's illegal to stick a poster on a post box without permission. Has anyone ever been prosecuted for that?

 

[chipbury]

Just noticed this box on platform 1 of Westbury station.

 

[Sun Chariot]

What a fabulous masonry mount, surrounding that Victoria-era wall box; it's far more appealing that the usual cement!
Great spot @chipbury

 

[weepingwillowb]

Managed to take some snaps of a wall box and a pillar box from buses this morning. The ER II wall box is on Fall Kirk, Gressingham, Lancashire, between Carnforth and Bentham. It looks like a genuine box to me (is it?), but that wall was only built some time between May 2009 and August 2016, and the box was placed there then, looking to be in the same worn condition as it is now. I've looked on Street View in May 2009, and there doesn't appear to have been a post box in the area at that time.

The GR VI pillar box is at the junction of Collin Road and Milnthorpe Road (the A6), south side of Kendal.

 

[WesternLancer]

Just noticed this box on platform 1 of Westbury station.

It’s always interesting tome to see boxes at stations especially when built in or on platforms.
So nice to see that example

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Thanks for this very helpful information. Fascinating to read.
It is remarkable.
I wonder if others survive in the public realm?

I assumed it was active. Although on museum frontage it’s also pretty much part of the street along there which is a short terrace of shops and an excellent pub.
All cut through further down from the original street layout by a section of urban ring road albeit fortunately not too dominant.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 9 Aug 2026 ==

Which reminds me to upload these pictures I took at the National Railway Museum eating in the summer.

Yes, going back to this I wondered if the wooden one from BRB headquarters was just made internally by a BR workshop, albeit with a design that emulated a real public pillar box.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 17 Aug 2026 ==

Managed to take some snaps of a wall box and a pillar box from buses this morning. The ER II wall box is on Fall Kirk, Gressingham, Lancashire, between Carnforth and Bentham. It looks like a genuine box to me (is it?), but that wall was only built some time between May 2009 and August 2016, and the box was placed there then, looking to be in the same worn condition as it is now. I've looked on Street View in May 2009, and there doesn't appear to have been a post box in the area at that time.

The GR VI pillar box is at the junction of Collin Road and Milnthorpe Road (the A6), south side of Kendal.

Interesting to note the wall box does not seem to have any sort of collection times plate with the usual information on it - but one would assume it's one that can be used and Royal Mail would collect from.

 

[weepingwillowb]

Interesting to note the wall box does not seem to have any sort of collection times plate with the usual information on it - but one would assume it's one that can be used and Royal Mail would collect from.

Seems odd to me that it's possible to buy a genuine withdrawn post box, and then put it in a wall for the postman to put your mail in.

Here are two wall boxes, one (GR VI) from Halton village, Lancashire, and the other (ER II) at Halton Green, slightly less than a mile east of the village box. The village box is in the wall of the old post office.

 

[WesternLancer]

Seems odd to me if it's possible to buy a genuine withdrawn post box, and then put it in a wall for the postman to put your mail in.

Yes, you do see that occasionally - when I've noticed it they are often not painted red - which does at least give a strong hint they are not for public use

Here are two wall boxes, one (GR VI) from Halton village, Lancashire, and the other (ER II) at Halton Green, slightly less than a mile east of the village box. The village box is in the wall of the old post office.

Nice examples there.

 

[weepingwillowb]

Nice examples there.

The two cottages that make up 85 (the old post office) and 87, High Road, Halton, are, according to an estate agent, "believed to date from the late 17th century."

 

[WesternLancer]

The two cottages that make up 85 (the old post office) and 87, High Road, Halton, are, according to an estate agent, "believed to date from the late 17th century."

That looks like it might be possible.

 

[weepingwillowb]

I'd spotted this Morecambe pillar box on Sunday, on Chatsworth Road, close to the junction with Regent Road, but didn't have my camera with me. Went to take these photos this morning, showed them to a postmaster I know; he said it looked like vandalism, and that it should get reported the next time there was a mail collection, which should be today. I'll keep an eye on the box, and report back when it's sorted.

There's a jagged vertical slit in the metal, a close-up of which shows that the wirework inside is unbroken. Was the small circular hole part of the vandalism, or was it always there?

 

[Sun Chariot]

Every time I think I've seen every type of mindless pointless stupudiy in the UK, I then discover a new one.

Thank goodness only its collection-plate was damaged, as it should ensire the fine Victoria cypher cast door will remain.

I suspect the small circular hole to the right, was a first drilling-attempt by the vandals. I have not seen such a hole before (by way of comparison, post 37 (linked) GV Type A box has no collection-card, so the backing plate is clearly visible).

Post your Post Boxes! (Photos and fun facts)

By all means post a photo of your EVIII post box @SteveP29 :) Edward VII and Edward VIII are least common. I hope this thread will show that the sheer variety (online info suggests around 800 different ones!) Is interesting - and a bit of fun to find them!

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[weepingwillowb]

Every time I think I've seen every type of mindless pointless stupudiy in the UK, I then discover a new one.

Thank goodness only its collection-plate was damaged, as it should ensire the fine Victoria cypher cast door will remain.

I suspect the small circular hole to the right, was a first drilling-attempt by the vandals. I have not seen such a hole before (by way of comparison, post 37 (linked) GV Type A box has no collection-card, so the backing plate is clearly visible).

Post your Post Boxes! (Photos and fun facts)

By all means post a photo of your EVIII post box @SteveP29 :) Edward VII and Edward VIII are least common. I hope this thread will show that the sheer variety (online info suggests around 800 different ones!) Is interesting - and a bit of fun to find them!

www.railforums.co.uk

It being Morecambe, it doesn't surprise me. Where this box is is rated a medium-to-high crime locality.

 

[WesternLancer]

There's a jagged vertical slit in the metal, a close-up of which shows that the wirework inside is unbroken. Was the small circular hole part of the vandalism, or was it always there?

I'm seeing 4 of those holes at roughly corner points - so I suspect in the overall life of that pillar box - which is pretty long - something was at one point fixed using them.

I note the Victorian pillar box near me has a modern collection times panel that does not fit the slot very well - if I wanted to I could get my fingers around the edge of plastic (?) panel and pull it off - casual vandal or bored person might do that as opposed to a concerted 'attack' on the box in order to get in it.
Before modern paper / card / plastic info panels were made what would they have been like - enamelled white with black wording ?

 

[Sun Chariot]

I'm seeing 4 of those holes at roughly corner points - so I suspect in the overall life of that pillar box - which is pretty long - something was at one point fixed using them.

Before modern paper / card / plastic info panels were made what would they have been like - enamelled white with black wording ?

You know, on my phone's screen, I didn't spot those other three holes! Yes, it's far more likely an authorised fixing at a prior point.
The collection-plates used to be enamel; an example on this preserved VR Type B pillar box near Launceston. I don't know if those necessitated bolt-type fixings to the door.

 

[weepingwillowb]

You know, on my phone's screen, I didn't spot thosse other three holes! Yes, it's far more likely an authorised fixing at a prior point.
The collection-plates used to be enamel; an example on this preserved VR Type B pillar box near Launceston. I don't know if those necessitated bolt-type fixings to the door.

Nice to see the location on that box - it seems like only fairly recently that that stopped being the practice. It was really useful with rural post boxes to know their exact location when you came across one.

 

[WesternLancer]

You know, on my phone's screen, I didn't spot thosse other three holes! Yes, it's far more likely an authorised fixing at a prior point.
The collection-plates used to be enamel; an example on this preserved VR Type B pillar box near Launceston. I don't know if those necessitated bolt-type fixings to the door.

Thanks for that great image of an old enamel plate - I suspect those too were designed to be slotted in, but no idea for sure, just seems to me the sensible way to design it - but there may be more to it than that of course

we need a forum member who is a Postie with responsibility to change the current plates and thus the ability to send us a picture of what these very old ones look like behind the info panel

 

[Sun Chariot]

we need a forum member who is a Postie with responsibility to change the current plates and thus the ability to send us a picture of what these very old ones look like behind the info panel

@Ashley Hill 's father worked for the Post Office; although what we need is a) current employee or b) someone with very dextrous fingers who can temporarily "bend-fold" the collection-card on a Victoria VR cyphered pillar-box.

The card-less example on post 37, a Geo V era, lacks those holes.

 

[Ashley Hill]

@Ashley Hill 's father worked for the Post Office;

He retired in 2004 aged 65 after 34 years.
I remember the majority of the collection slides during the late 70s when I would go with him on his rounds during school holidays were white enamel with black writing. Later ones were engraved a with black lettering.

 

[WesternLancer]

He retired in 2004 aged 65 after 34 years.
I remember the majority of the collection slides during the late 70s when I would go with him on his rounds during school holidays were white enamel with black writing. Later ones were engraved a with black lettering.

very interesting to read that that as late as that the slides were still enamel. Maybe there had not been a reason to change them if the collection info was unchanged.

 

[Ashley Hill]

very interesting to read that that as late as that the slides were still enamel. Maybe there had not been a reason to change them if the collection info was unchanged.

He had a rural village van route so the surrounding area collections had probably not changed for some years.