K6 Telephone Kiosk

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A freestanding type K6 telephone kiosk constructed to Sir Giles Gilbert Scott's standardised design of 1935. Cast iron construction painted red with glazing to three elevations (NW, NE, SE) and incorporating a solid panel to the fourth elevation (SW). The Ballbogy kiosk bears the St Edward’s Crown within a slot, which dates manufacture to between 1955 and 1965, the K6 design was discontinued in 1968.

The kiosk is located at a crossroads within the large village of Ballybogy and is set back form the Ballybogy Road along a minor residential road adjacent to some green space. The location is prominent along the main Ballybogy Road and overlooked by residential dwellings. The glazing is predominantly Perspex, and it is noted the telephone equipment is present. The kiosk is in good condition, but it should be noted the high level signage has been replaced with new signage, which does not have the correct font.

Historical information

A ‘TCB’ or telephone call box, along with a small square denoting the footprint of the same, is marked on this site on the OS map of 1980 but not on that of the previous edition of 1970, suggesting that this kiosk was installed here sometime between these dates. As this design – the ‘K6’ – had ceased production in 1968 it is likely that this particular structure was already in use elsewhere and merely relocated here.

It is difficult to ascertain precisely when and exactly why this occurred. On the 1950 OS map a kiosk is marked standing roughly 250m further north along the eastern side of Ballybogy Road, next to what was then the local post office – a common location for many rural public telephone points at this date (see below). At some stage, possibly in the early to mid-1960s, the post office moved to new premises directly opposite (into what is now the private house at no.108); however, the kiosk itself remained in its original position as it is still shown here on the 1970 map. Sometime in the following decade the post office changed premises again, moving a short distance southward to a house that stood on the site of the present Swallow Court. It may have been at this juncture that the decision was taken to relocate the kiosk to its present spot at Millview Park, which since its development in the mid-1950s had become the de facto centre of Ballybogy and a more logical site for a public telephone.

It must be noted, however, that the Millview kiosk is of the post-1955 ‘slot’ variety of the K6 and therefore could not be that shown on the 1950 map, unless the latter was itself replaced between 1955 and 1968. There is some evidence to suggest that a kiosk may have been erected at Ballybogy in 1935, which at this date would have been one of the ‘K3’ models which had been in use throughout the UK from 1929. The latter were made of concrete and proved relatively fragile, so it is not inconceivable that like many others of its type, it was replaced and it is this replacement that was later moved.

GENERAL INFORMATION ON K6 KIOSKS The K6 model was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott in 1935 to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of King George V. Constructed in cast-iron with a teak door, compact in size and easily mass-produced, the design of the K6 was developed from Scott’s previous telephone kiosk models, the larger K2 (introduced in 1926) and K3 (1929). It was distributed throughout the UK from 1936 and represents the most successful and populous type of kiosk to be introduced with some 60,000 being placed around the country. About 8,000 of these were installed as part of the 'Jubilee Concession', which allowed towns and villages with a post office to apply for a kiosk. A year later, under the 'Tercentenary Concession' celebrating the Post Office's 300th anniversary, a further 1,000 kiosks were installed over 12 years for local authorities willing to pay a five-year subscription of £4. After 1949 this was succeeded by the ‘Rural Allocation scheme’, under which kiosks were placed in out-of-town areas upon the recommendation of a rural authority.

A minor alteration in the K6 design occurred following the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, when the ‘Tudor’ crown motif was replaced with the St. Edward’s crown. From 1955 the Crown of Scotland was used for kiosks in that country, a slot in the fascia allowing either version to be inserted into all of those manufactured from this date. The model continued in production until 1968 when the more modernist K8, designed by Bruce Martin, was introduced.

References – Primary sources
1 ‘Northern Whig’ – 9 July 1935, p.1
2 OS map, County series, Antrim sheet 11 – 1950; IG sheet 13-16 – 1970, 1980
3 ‘Belfast News-Letter’ – 5 April 1989, p.66 [Sale notice for Ballybogey post office.]

Secondary Sources
4 N. Johannessen, ‘Telephone Boxes’ Shire Publications (Princes Risborough, 2010)
5 Linge, Nigel and Sutton, Andy, ‘The British phonebox’, (Amberley Publishing, 2017)
6 The Telephone Box - http://www.the-telephone-box.co.uk/ (accessed 1 October 2025)
7 GPO - KIOSK No. 6 (K6) - https://www.britishtelephones.com/k6.htm (accessed 1 October 2025)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

As the historical information suggests this kiosk has been relocated.As such the kiosk is of insufficent special architectural or historic interest to consider it suitable for listing.