Post Box

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A free-standing early twentieth century Edward 7th cast-iron post box located on the outside of the pavement in Windsor Park, opposite Windsor Court in Malone Conservation Area.

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 - ‘Handyside Derby & London’. It stands 5ft 0in high and measures 21in/15½ in/17in in diameter around its cap, shaft and base respectively. The rear of the box has a canted steel plate attached, held in place with two steel straps.

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 either side of this are raised letters ‘POST’ and ‘OFFICE’.

Below the aperture is the door, hinged at left and with a raised lock at the right. At the 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 (BT9 250D). To the upper right is a small holder containing a removable plate showing the day of the next collection.

Below the notice plate holder is an ‘E R Vll’ cipher in cursive script with a raised crown above.

Historical information

The pillar box in Windsor Park was erected sometime between 1901 and 1910, and is shown for the first time on the 1920 OS town plan.

The foundry plate located at the base of the pillar box records that it was constructed by ‘Handyside 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 be 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 Penfold 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, 1901-02, 1920

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 1901 and 1910, this pillar post box is a well-preserved Edwardian instance of the genre, constructed to a now iconic cylindrical design first introduced by the Post Office in 1879. It is fine example of early 20th 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 King Edward VII’s reign still surviving in Northern Ireland is not yet known, they are believed to be relatively few, and as such, of considerable value.