Post your Post Boxes! (Photos and fun facts)

[chipbury]

Here’s a photo taken today of the Alresford station box - the adjacent sign is good.
A lovely station with a good second hand bookshop.

 

[WesternLancer]

Here’s a photo taken today of the Alresford station box - the adjacent sign is good.
A lovely station with a good second hand bookshop.

That's an unusual example of a box in use for the public but with a private organisation 'operating it' - tho I guess boxes inside places like hotels (if any still exist of course) would fit that description.
Interesting

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Here's a long list of post boxes at UK railway stations, though you have to look at the photos to see if they're wall or pillar boxes.

Post boxes at UK railway stations

UK railway stations with post boxes in them

www.railwaycodes.org.uk

I know of one in North Lancashire that's not on the list, that I haven't got round to photographing yet. Will try to go there next week, weather permitting.

Thanks for linking that - quite a good listing I imagine.

 

[weepingwillowb]

Outside what used to be the post office in Cowan Bridge, North Lancashire, now the village stores and tea room. When I went inside I looked to see what was at the back of the box, but it was only a wooden board.

 

[madannie77]

On a back street in Carlisle.

 

[Sun Chariot]

Some super examples in recent posts; thanks all!

Alresford's "not Royal Mail's" wall-box is "British" quirky! For five years, I lived just 20-minutes drive from the Mid-Hants Railway and I often ventured into Alresford (the town centre and railway); but I hadn't seen this box. I'll pay a visit when next that way.

Carlisle's marvellous Victoria-era Ludlow wall box makes an interesting comparison to similar (but slightly different!) VR Ludlows on posts 44 and 83 (links below):

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

Post your Post Boxes! (Photos and fun facts)

Similarly, there are post boxes to be found in Malta that still have a British monarch's details. On the boxes in Republic Street in Valletta they've been chiseled off, but in several other places no-one has been bothered about that and they remain as they were before the country became...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[8089]

I visited Hong Kong back in April. Main motivation was looking for some surviving examples of colonial post boxes. One of these I find most interesting is the George V pillar box. Instead of using the simple GR cypher found closer to home, it uses his standard cypher. Also the one surviving double aperture box with the Scottish Crown, and one of two VR boxes in preservation inside the mini-museum in Hong Kong's GPO.

 

[WesternLancer]

I visited Hong Kong back in April. Main motivation was looking for some surviving examples of colonial post boxes. One of these I find most interesting is the George V pillar box. Instead of using the simple GR cypher found closer to home, it uses his standard cypher. Also the one surviving double aperture box with the Scottish Crown, and one of two VR boxes in preservation inside the mini-museum in Hong Kong's GPO.

That’s a real highlight to see that selection! Many thanks indeed for sharing.
Fascinating.
I wonder what the story is about the George V cypher as pictured.

Were they always green in Hong Kong?

 

[Sun Chariot]

Superb selection @8089 and many thanks for sharing.

The George V Type A is fascinating: it bears the specific cypher variation for post boxes in British Overseas Colonies. This cypher's design may have influenced the cypher for George VI (attached blow-ups show why).
The box itself, is a casting from pre-1905 (when Edward VII boxes began using a new casting with a much larger door). My guess is that this box was either "new old stock", or was an old VR / early EVIIR box with a new cypher-casting.

The diminutive Elizabeth II wall-box, in the cement bollard: the relative sizes of the leaves, low paving-stones and the water hydrant cover, makes me think the bollard and box are very low to the ground - is that the case?

The Type C box with a Crown of St Andrew is, in all likelihood, a repurposed box from Scotland.

These are the first post boxes I've seen with Cantonese script collection-cards!

Winderful stuff!

 

[StoneRoad]

Fascinating !

{I found the Crich K1 phone box to go with the Carlton Coalville one recently. Just put some paint on it already ! images will appear in the near-ish future}

I have a couple of other targets for my camera ...

 

[weepingwillowb]

A posting box outside Kirkby Lonsdale Post Office, Cumbria/Westmorland. The post office is up for sale, £460,000, because of the retirement of the present owners.

View attachment 194196


View attachment 194197​

I re-photographed the box outside Kirkby Lonsdale post office, as I'd noticed that someone had made a bad job of removing the 'Priority Postbox' sticker. The post office itself is still up for sale.

 

[Sun Chariot]

I'm currently in Sevilla (Seville) and the city's bright yellow pillarboxes certainly don't have appeal of the UK's. These in South West Spain resemble a canary-yellow upturned torpedo...

 

[WesternLancer]

I re-photographed the box outside Kirkby Lonsdale post office, as I'd noticed that someone had made a bad job of removing the 'Priority Postbox' sticker. The post office itself is still up for sale.

They’ve certainly made a mess of that.
Ideally needs some metalwork restoration to undo the effect of that sticker on the bronzed surface.
Somehow I doubt that will happen…

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I'm currently in Sevilla (Seville) and the city's bright yellow pillarboxes certainly don't have appeal of the UK's. These in South West Spain resemble a canary-yellow upturned torpedo...

This post surely demand a picture!

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

The Republic of Ireland still has a large number of pre-1922 boxes complete with royal cypher, albeit painted in green rather than red. In a few places the cypher has been burnished off, but not many. There are also a large number of post-1922 boxes in the British style, but with 'PTT' in Gaelic script in place of the royal cypher.

 

[SargeNpton]

The Republic of Ireland still has a large number of pre-1922 boxes complete with royal cypher, albeit painted in green rather than red. In a few places the cypher has been burnished off, but not many. There are also a large number of post-1922 boxes in the British style, but with 'PTT' in Gaelic script in place of the royal cypher.

See post #58 in this thread.

 

[Shimbleshanks]

Don't think anyone's posted these before - I've always liked these elegant wooden ones at the entrance to the Royal Academy in London. Was it was some sort of 'private' venture by the RA - perhaps their artistic sensibilities would have been offended by a common red cast iron box? But the public can post letters in it, at least when the RA is open and it has what looks like official Post Office collection time plates on the front.

 

[Sun Chariot]

This post surely demand a picture!

Sevilla's rather uninspiring pillar boxes. This is the only one we've seen, this week, not covered with graffiti...

 

[weepingwillowb]

Just back from a week in Cornwall and Devon, and here's a box in an outer wall of Wyvern Barracks, Exeter, yesterday. The bus I was on stopped at traffic lights on Topsham Road, and I just had time to get one photo of this GRVI box.

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

 

[Sun Chariot]

Great find, B! Even though that George VI wall-box is no longer in use, its astonishing patina (or shoddily-applied brown paint...) and its siting within a bricked-up doorway, make it a fascinating subject. Nice one!

Oh and it seems no dogs emptied their bladders against it. Unlike the front of that Triana (Seville) yellow pillar-box...

 

[weepingwillowb]

While walking from Truro centre to the guest house I stayed at, I passed these two GR wall boxes. First was the now-closed Daniell Street sub-post office, and the second was further up the hill, on Daniell Road.

 

[DelW]

My nearby box (whose "toppers" have featured on here before) is now celebrating the local Women's Institute, including knitted tea and cake. Possibly celebrating an anniversary?


(Photo of box with said topper)

 

[WesternLancer]

Sevilla's rather uninspiring pillar boxes. This is the only one we've seen, this week, not covered with graffiti...

Certainly distinctive if a little odd looking.
Nice to see though and a worthy entry to the thread.

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Just back from a week in Cornwall and Devon, and here's a box in an outer wall of Wyvern Barracks, Exeter, yesterday. The bus I was on stopped at traffic lights on Topsham Road, and I just had time to get one photo of this GRVI box.

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

That’s in a sorry state. I wonder why it was decommissioned?

 

[Sun Chariot]

While walking from Truro centre to the guest house I stayed in, I passed these two GR wall boxes. First was the now-closed Daniell Street sub-post office, and the second was further up the hill, on Daniell Road.

Super finds, B. When I was in Falmouth, two years ago, I failed to do my homework ahd I missed out!

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Certainly distinctive if a little odd looking.

I maintain it's not my "squirt" on the lower part of that box...

 

[weepingwillowb]

Super finds, B. When I was in Falmouth, two years ago, I failed to do my homework ahd I missed out!

Most of the boxes I photograph are random finds, but if I go on a planned rural walk somewhere I'll have a look on Street View beforehand.

Here's two from Falmouth Docks. The pillar box is outside the post office there, and the wall box is on Cliff Road, spotted while I was walking up to Pendennis Point. I later saw another wall box in Falmouth, at a similar angle as the Cliff Road one, from a bus I was on.

 

[WesternLancer]

While walking from Truro centre to the guest house I stayed at, I passed these two GR wall boxes. First was the now-closed Daniell Street sub-post office, and the second was further up the hill, on Daniell Road.

Another nice box with enamel plate on it there.
I always find these visually interesting and their survival notable!
Thanks for sharing.

Other wall box is also nice to see.

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Most of the boxes I photograph are random finds, but if I go on a planned rural walk somewhere I'll have a look on Street View beforehand.

Here's two from Falmouth Docks. The pillar box is outside the post office there, and the wall box is on Cliff Road, spotted while I was walking up to Pendennis Point. I later saw another wall box in Falmouth, at a similar angle as the Cliff Road one, from a bus I was on.

Suitably regional planting there makes a nice context!

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My nearby box (whose "toppers" have featured on here before) is now celebrating the local Women's Institute, including knitted tea and cake. Possibly celebrating an anniversary?

View attachment 213107
(Photo of box with said topper)

Very skilled work there. And a smartly painted box by the look of it.

 

[weepingwillowb]

Certainly distinctive if a little odd looking.
Nice to see though and a worthy entry to the thread.

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That’s in a sorry state. I wonder why it was decommissioned?

I had another look at the Street View images, and the box was still in use in a photo dated June 2018, but painted black by June 2019.

 

[WesternLancer]

I had another look at the Street View images, and the box was still in use in a photo dated June 2018, but painted black by June 2019.

That’s interesting point

 

[weepingwillowb]

How does the Post Office record how frequently each box is used, so that they know if it remains viable to keep individual boxes in use or not?

 

[Sun Chariot]

That's a really good question B.

All: Do we have any postal workers, present or past, who know how Royal Mail decides if an existing post box is no longer viable?

 

[WesternLancer]

How does the Post Office record how frequently each box is used, so that they know if it remains viable to keep individual boxes in use or not?

Some years ago (maybe c10? ) Royal Mail signed up to a protocol with the then English heritage which essentially said they recognised the value to the street scape of the traditional ppost box and would default to retaining them.

I suspect this was to head off desires to give numerous boxes listed structure status and all the work that would go with such a designation.

I’ll try and find a link. But the world moves on and I suspect there will be increasing pressure to remove numbers of them to reduce collection work for example.

Here is a link to what I recall.

https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/royal-mail-post-boxes/

Document linked:
‘Royal Mail pillar boxes - joint policy statement Royal Mail and Historic England 2015.’

 

[weepingwillowb]

Some years ago (maybe c10? ) Royal Mail signed up to a protocol with the then English heritage which essentially said they recognised the value to the street scape of the traditional ppost box and would default to retaining them.

I suspect this was to head off desires to give numerous boxes listed structure status and all the work that would go with such a designation.

I’ll try and find a link. But the world moves on and I suspect there will be increasing pressure to remove numbers of them to reduce collection work for example.

Here is a link to what I recall.

https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/publications/royal-mail-post-boxes/

Document linked:
‘Royal Mail pillar boxes - joint policy statement Royal Mail and Historic England 2015.’

Very interesting, thanks for posting that, WL.

In Madron, near Penzance, last week, from the other side of the road I thought I'd come across an unusual wall box. It wasn't, it was just that the black base of a pillar box was obscured by ivy.