Post box

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A free-standing late 19th century Queen Victoria cast-iron post box mounted on the outside edge of the footpath in Agincourt Avenue, opposite Rugby Court and close to the junction with Rugby Road.

This post box is of standard design and painted in ‘pillar box red’ throughout except for the base which is black and carries its maker’s name ‘A HANDYSIDE & CO LD DERBY & LONDON’ . It stands 5ft 0in high and measures 21in/15½ in/17in in diameter around its cap, shaft and base respectively.

Below its shallow oversailing cap, the edge of which is fluted, is a hooded rectangular aperture through which the letters are inserted into the box. To its left and right respectively are the words ‘Post’ and ‘Office’ in bas-relief.

Below the aperture is the door, hinged at left and with a raised lock plate at the right. At its top of the door is a notice plate holder containing details of collection days/times. The number of this particular box is also given at the bottom of the notice (BT7 191D). To the top right of the notice plate holder is a further small holder containing a removable plate showing the day of the next collection. Below the notice plate holder is a raised ‘V R’ cipher (no crown above) in cursive script.

Historical information

The pillar box at the junction of Agincourt Avenue and Rugby Road was erected sometime between 1896 and 1901, as it is not shown on the town plan of the former year, but must (given its 'VR' insignia) have appeared before Queen Victoria's death in early 1901.

The foundry plate located at the base of the pillar box records that it was constructed by ‘A. Handyside & Co. Ld Derby & London’, a firm founded by Andrew Handyside in 1847 and originally based at the Britannia Foundry, Duke Street, Derby.

GENERAL The concept of post or letter boxes, local containers placed convenient positions for the collection of mail, thus saving journeys to central collection points, is a relatively old one. Permanent boxes at were first trialled in Paris in 1653, but the scheme did not prove successful and they were removed shortly afterwards. The idea was successfully resurrected in the city in 1758, however, and by the 1830s boxes could be found throughout much of France, Belgium and some German states.

The introduction of roadside letter boxes in the UK was originally suggested in 1840 by the postal reformer Rowland Hill, but it was not taken up until 1852, when the novelist Anthony Trollope, (then employed as a Post Office Surveyor in the Channels Islands), advocated the adoption of the French system in Britain. Through his efforts the first post box was erected in Jersey in November 1852 and in less than a year they began to be introduced in mainland Britain.

Ireland followed in 1855 when boxes were erected in Dublin, Belfast and Ballymena, with others appearing in other major towns in 1857. Wall boxes, which had existed in some post offices prior to the 1850s were also introduced on a more systematic basis at this time also as a more cost-effective alternative to pillar boxes - particularly in rural areas, and 'lamp' boxes, small receptacles attached to lamp posts or pedestals, in areas where the amount of post was small, began to used in the 1890s. And so, by the end of the 19th century the postal network throughout the United Kingdom had been transformed with the installation of boxes throughout urban centres and smaller towns and villages alike.

The earliest pillar boxes did not follow a uniform design, as they were ordered by district surveyors from local foundries. The 1855 box at Dublin for instance, (the 'Ashworth Box' now preserved in the National Museum), was rectangular and similar to London's first box of the same year, but other areas had a mixture of cylindrical, hexagonal and octagonal versions. In 1859 a standardised cylindrical model – the ‘National Standard’ – was brought into use. In1866 this was succeeded by the hexagonal ‘Penfold’ (named after its designer), which began to be painted red from 1874 onwards. The faceted form of the Penfolds meant that letters could easily get stuck and it was discontinued in 1879, in favour of a cylindrical version once again.

Similar, but not identical to the earlier ‘National Standard’ boxes, this updated form came in two sizes ‘A’ and ‘B’, the former, having a smaller 15½in diameter shaft, being the more common. Early versions of these had no royal cipher, but this was added from 1887 onwards along with the words ‘POST OFFICE’ either side of the aperture. In 1899 a broader oval type with double slots (for town and country mail) began to be introduced, and c.1930, the aperture on the ‘normal’ cylindrical boxes was moved to the door (once again to avoid letters getting stuck).

The 1879 design and its variants remained unchallenged until 1968 when plainer square ‘Type F’ boxes, were trialled. These were manufactured from sheet steel, but lacking durability, they were superseded by cast iron ‘Type G’ versions soon afterwards. In 1979 the ‘Type K’, a new modern cylindrical design of pared-down form and minus any kind of cap, was launched, and in more recent years, plastic boxes for use inside shopping centres and airports have become common sights.

References

Primary Sources
1 OS town plans of Belfast, 1896, 1901-02

Secondary Sources
1 Hyde, J. W., ‘The Royal Mail: Its curiosities and romance’ London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co., 1889.
2 Wicks, P., ‘History of the British Post Box’ (Pamphlet replicated on author’s website - http://www.wicks.org/pulp/part1.html)

Online Resources
1 The British Postal Museum & Archive website - http://www.postalheritage.org.uk/page/letterboxes
2 The Letter Box Study Group website - http://www.lbsg.org/
3 Falkirk Local History Society website –
http://www.falkirklocalhistorysociety.co.uk/home/index.php?id=107
4 Grace’s Guide to British Industrial History - https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Andrew_Handyside_and_Co

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
J. Setting

Criteria for listing: historic interest

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

Evaluation

Dating from sometime between 1896 and the beginning of 1901, this pillar post box is a well-preserved Victorian instance of the genre, constructed to a now iconic cylindrical design first introduced by the Post Office in 1879. It is fine example of 19th century street furniture, and an object of socio-historical importance, being the principal conduit for distance communication at the time of its installation. Although the exact number of boxes dating from Queen Victoria’s reign still surviving in Northern Ireland is not yet known, they are believed to be extremely few, and as such, of considerable value.