Telephone kiosk

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A red telephone kiosk type 'K6' designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott was installed between 1936 and c.1953-54 with a cast-iron body and timber door NE (complete with leather hinges and original opening mechanism). Except for its blank SE elevation, the elevations are glazed with 8x3 glazing - all have been replaced with Perspex. The kiosk has a domed top, carried on four moulded corner posts, with a Tudor Crown insignia set between each. Below these insignia, on each elevation, the legend 'Telephone' is carried in black serif capital letters in a white-glazed rectangular panel.

Roof: Cast-iron
RWG: None
Walling: Cast iron and timber, painted
Windows: Single-pane with glazing bars (Perspex replacement)

Historical information

This telephone kiosk can probably be dated to sometime between 1936 and c.1953-54, the period during which this particular version of the ‘K6’ type was in use (see below). The first available OS map on which it is shown is that dated 1976. It is possible that it is contemporary with the nearby creamery complex, which was established in 1943, but it is perhaps more likely to have been installed when the neighbouring ‘Riverside’ housing development was built in c.1950.

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, though some K6s do seem to have installed after this date.

Sources - Primary Sources
1 ‘Mid-Ulster Mail’ – 1 December 1951, p.2
2 OS map IG sheet 108-16 - 1976

Secondary Sources
2 N. Johannessen, ‘Telephone Boxes’ Shire Publications (Princes Risborough, 1994)
3 The Telephone Box - http://www.the-telephone-box.co.uk/ (accessed 2 September 2024)
4 GPO - KIOSK No. 6 (K6) (britishtelephones.com) (accessed 2 September 2024)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior

Criteria for listing: historic interest

R. Age
S. Authenticity
Z. Rarity
V. Authorship
Y. Social, Cultural or Economic Importance
X. Local Interest

Evaluation

A relatively well-preserved, and now increasingly rare example of a 'K6' series telephone kiosk, designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. The kiosk is located at 'Riverside', a small post-war social housing development running parallel to Moneymore Road northwest of Cookstown, and as such is likely to have been installed c.1950 when the houses appear to have been completed.

General comments

Previous LQ HB09/LQ024