Telephone Kiosk

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A square-plan, freestanding K6 telephone kiosk built to Sir Giles Gilbert Scott's standardised design of 1935 and installed c. 1952. It is of cast iron construction, with glazing to three of the elevations and a solid panel to the fourth (S),
The kiosk is situated in a prominent rural
setting along a straight section of the Dyan-Caledon Road. It is adjacent to a small development of prefabricated Orlit ‘Ulster Cottages’ and was most likely installed in 1952 in connection with this development.
The glazing is a combination of glass and Perspex, and the telephone equipment is modern. It is generally well maintained, though its lower leather door strap is missing and the upper glass panels that display the signage ‘Telephone’ are faded, one is missing (S).

Roof: Cast-iron
RWG: None
Walling: Cast-iron, painted
Windows: Single pane with glazing bars

Historical information

The telephone kiosk in Dyan Road, Caledon dates from c1952 and is first indicated on the large-scale OS map dating from 1977.

The iconic design for the red telephone kiosk, known as K6, was commissioned by the Post Office in 1935 to mark the jubilee of King George V. The design, by celebrated English architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, was an adaptation of his original classical design for the earlier K2 (1926). Scott is thought to have drawn inspiration, particularly for the characteristic pendentive roof or ‘handkerchief dome’, from the mausoleum of regency architect, Sir John Soane.

Constructed in cast-iron with a teak door, compact in size and easily mass-produced, the K6 was the most successful and ubiquitous of the phone box designs produced in the 20th century. The K6 was distributed throughout the UK from 1936 with more than 60,000 being placed around Britain and Northern Ireland. About 8,000 of these were installed as part of the 'Jubilee Concession' (celebrating 25 years of the reign of George V) announced in April 1935, which allowed towns and villages with a post office to apply for a kiosk. The ‘Tercentenary Concession’ (celebrating the Post Office's 300th anniversary) announced in July the same year, enabled local authorities to pay a subscription of £4 a year for five years to install phone boxes in areas where there was no post office and led to around 1,000 further installations. After 1949 these schemes were succeeded by the ‘Rural Allocation scheme’, under which kiosks were placed in out-of-town areas upon the recommendation of a rural authority.

The K6 originally carried a Tudor crown motif derived from the Post Office crest. This was changed to a St Edward’s crown on the ascent of Queen Elizabeth II to the throne, and telephone kiosks after 1953 carry the new motif. The Dyan Road phone box can be dated to after 1939, due to the asymmetrically placed cable entry holes to the rear panel (these are symmetrically placed on earlier models), and before 1953, when the St Edward’s crown was introduced.

However, it is likely that the phone box was installed in association with the small development of pre-fabricated Orlit ‘Ulster Cottages’ adjacent to it. The row of seven houses, three semi-detached pairs and a single dwelling were constructed in 1952 and manufactured by the Orlit company although most have undergone extension and remodelling or rebuilding since that time. The houses were built by Dungannon Rural District Council as part of a drive to address the severe housing shortage in the post-war period, and enter valuation records in 1952 at a valuation of £10, reduced to £8 on appeal. The row of houses was named ‘Kedew Place’, Kedew (Céideadh - low-lying hill) being the name of a nearby townland and road.

Over 4,000 prefabricated houses of several different styles manufactured by Orlit (NI) Ltd are thought to have been put up in Northern Ireland between 1946 until the company ceased construction of pre-fabs in 1956. The houses were made of precast concrete panels which were assembled on site, but unlike other types of pre-fab, Orlit’s houses were not intended to be temporary but were promoted as having a life expectancy of at least 60 years. The ‘Ulster Cottage’ design, consisting of three bedrooms, a living room/kitchen, scullery and store was endorsed by the Minister of Health, Dame Dehra Parker as being ‘in every way satisfactory for country use’ on sites where there was no access to piped water or sewerage. Not all rural district councils were convinced but Dungannon purchased 120 Orlit Ulster Cottages, many of which survive today.

The Dyan Road telephone kiosk was likely installed at the same time as or shortly after the houses were built. The village of Dyan, 200m to the S had formerly been the location of the local Post Office from the late 19th century, but the Post Office was moved to the current row of houses where it is indicated as the adjacent dwelling house to the kiosk on the 1977 large-scale map (this house was no longer a Post Office by 1993). With the phone kiosk and letter box, a full postal/telephonic service was provided to the adjacent row of houses and to the village of Dyan.

The ‘lamp’ post box beside the kiosk (so called because they were originally intended to be fixed to lamp posts) bears the cipher of Queen Elizabeth II and dates to between c2010 and 2022 (replacing an earlier box which is indicated on the 1977 large-scale map). This general design, first used in 1949, originally bore the words ‘Post Office’ over the aperture, but in versions after 1994, this has been replaced with ‘Royal Mail’, and in the final version during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, introduced c2010, the box is made of steel with a steel plaque perforated with the royal cipher.

References:
Primary Sources:
1. PRONI VAL/3/C/7/12 Third General Revaluation Revision Lists 1936-57
2. PRONI VAL/3/D/7/6/R/1 Third General Revaluation Valuers Binder 1933-57
3. Mid-Ulster Mail, 4th May 1935, p.10; 6th July 1946, p.1; 19th January 1952, p.3
4. Newry Telegraph, 21st February 1953, p.5
5. Northern Whig, 1st August 1935, p.7; 30th August 1950, p.8
6. The Architects’ Journal, 6th December 1951, pp.687-689
7. The Builder, 29th December 1950, pp.686-688
8. Large-scale OS maps, 1936, 1977, 1993

Secondary Sources:
9. Johanssen, N (2011) Telephone Boxes. Oxford: Shire Publications Ltd
10. Linge, N and Sutton, A (2017) The British Phone Box. Stroud: Amberley Publishing
11. Robinson, Martin (2000) Old Letter Boxes. Oxford: Shire Publications Ltd
12. The history of the cast iron pay phone box (https://ourstoriesfalkirk.com) (accessed 10 September 2025)
13. The Telephone Box - http://www.the-telephone-box.co.uk/ (accessed 10 September 2025)
14. GPO - KIOSK No. 6 (K6) - https://www.britishtelephones.com/k6.htm (accessed 10 September 2025)
15. Information supplied by Nigel Henderson of History Hub Ulster

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

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

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

This structurally intact telephone kiosk designed in 1935 by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott has a Tudor crown motif indicating installation between 1936 and 1953, the position of cable entry holes reduces this window further to post 1939. The kiosk was most likely installed c.1952 if it was installed in connection with the adjacent development of prefabricated Orlit ‘Ulster Cottages’.
This iconic piece of street furniture, once common but almost entirely replaced by modern mobile phone use, is now increasingly rare.
It is a good example of the post 1949 ‘Rural Allocation scheme’, under which kiosks were placed in out-of-town areas upon the recommendation of the rural authority. Sited adjacent to a post box and former post office, it also marks the location of a twentieth century rural communications node.