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British Letter Boxes

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An overview of letter boxes in the UK

You might see them as just a place to post your letter, but British letter boxes come in many shapes and sizes and have a history that goes back over 150 years.

Letter boxes are seen in every city, town, village and hamlet in Britain but most people walk past them without giving them a second thought.

This is a very concise overview of some of the variety of letter boxes that can be seen in British streets today.

The picture shows two pillar boxes, in the centre of Hailsham Sussex. Despite the similarity of the design these boxes the box on the left is about 65 years older than the other.

Handyside Pillar-boxes

Low aperture From 1879 to 1905 pillar-boxes were made by the "Andrew Handyside" foundry in Derby. These boxes are easily distinguished by the two protruding ornimental rings around the top of the box, above the door.

The earliest Handyside boxes had no Royal Cypher and are known as "anonymous" boxes.

The picture shows a fine example of an anonymous pillar-box in Eastbourne, East Sussex which is of the later "low aperture" variety.

A book about British Letter Boxes

Old Letter Boxes (Shire Library)

Old Letter Boxes (Shire Library)

by: Martin Robinson

Amazon Price: $13.49 (as of 05/30/2012)Buy Now

This is the book that inspired my deep interest in British letter boxes.

Design Change

George 5th McDowell Stevens Pillar-boxFrom 1905 pillar-boxes were redesigned to incorporate the aperture into the door to enable easier collection of mail, as it would be clear to see any letters caught at the top of the box.

This coincided with the introduction of a new manufacturer, McDowell Stevens. This design, with some small variations, continued through another change of manufacturer and through five reigns until it was superseded by the Gibbs design in the 1980s.
In the 1980s this new design of pillar box was introduced.

The "Gibbs" Pillar-box 

Lamp boxes

A smaller alternative to the pillar box.

Lamp box attached to a telegraph pole in Hailsham Sussex.The lamp-box was introduced in Victorian times, although genuine Victorian lamp-boxes are now very uncommon.

These boxes are generally found in more remote areas and in other places where the volume of mail is expected to be small.

Originally these would have been attached to a lamp post but today you will usually see them on telegraph poles or on top of a purpose built support.

What do you think?

I often get laughed at when people discover that I have an interest in letter-boxes. Are you laughing, or do you agree that they are a fascinating feature on British streets?

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More to come...

This lens only scratches the surface of this subject.

Look out for additions to this lens and perhaps more letter-box lenses, in the near future.

Your comments please....

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  • poddys Feb 5, 2012 @ 4:55 pm | delete
    I hope you can add to this with lots of personal photos too, as there are so many different styles of postbox, especially with different markings for different monarchs. It's a fascinating topic.
  • PositiveChristian Feb 6, 2012 @ 1:03 am | delete
    This is only meant to be an introduction to the subject but I will be writing some more letterbox lenses.

    All the photographs were taken by me.
  • CruiseReady Feb 4, 2012 @ 6:11 am | delete
    Interesting that the British letter boxes change so little up until the 1980s, and then went from round to square. They are very different looking than the ones in the states.
  • scarlettohairy Feb 3, 2012 @ 12:22 pm | delete
    These red letterboxes are pretty! I love the variety you've shown here.
  • Inkhand Jan 30, 2012 @ 7:07 am | delete
    A fascinating lens.
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The Letter Box Study Group

This group have studied and catalogued every letter box in Britain.

http://www.lbsg.org/

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PositiveChristian

I have far too many interests. I enjoy bicycles, playing music (piano and saxophone), collecting British stamps and coins, history, photography and, most... more »

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