Centre of the
Kingdom
A village which claims to be the centre of the British
Isles has support from
both the National Grid and British Telecom.
The 100,000th payphone box stands on the village green at Dunsop Bridge
White telephone boxes
Our traditional red telephone
boxes have now been replaced in many places by ultra modern kiosks. However, in the East Riding of Yorkshire
many of the old traditional boxes are still very much in evidence but painted white as always. This is due to the fact that the district’s
telephone company, Kingston Communications, has remained private.
A green telephone
box
A telephone box which was at the centre of controversy in
1993 is situated on the North York Moors near Helmsley, North
Yorkshire .
In 1935, local landowner, The
Earl of Faversham, ordered that the red telephone box at Fangdale Beck in
Bilsdale be painted green to fit in with the
rural backdrop of this very picturesque area.
This particular box was designated a Grade 2 listed building in 1990,
not to be touched without express planning, because of its historical and architectural
interest.
In 1993 the box was severely
vandalised and British Telecom replaced it with what was described by a local
resident as ‘a shower cubicle’. B.T
claimed that they had had no alternative but to replace the old box with a
modern kiosk to maintain its service.
Not so said Northallerton Magistrates’ when they fined B.T £3,000 with
£750 costs, for flouting planning and conservation laws.
The original telephone box was
replaced by an identical model – painted
green.
A Police telephone
box
The old blue Police Box was once a familiar sight on the corner of our streets,
have mostly disappeared with advancing technology. A nice example still in regular use, can be seen on the sea front at Scarborough
in North Yorkshire . Also immortalised as Dr Who’s TARDIS (Time And Relative
Dimension In Space).
Post Boxes
Traditionally our red post boxes bear the Royal Cipher and examples can still be seen in our streets bearing the cipher's of Queen Victoria, King Edward V11, George V and V1 and of course our present Queen.
It is said that there are some 14
Victorian post boxes still standing in Cheltenham
in Gloucester Evesham Road Pittville Park
Evesham Road, Cheltenham
However, boxes bearing the cipher of King Edward V111 are quite rare. He reigned for only eleven months in 1936 when Constitutional difficulties arose and before he was actually crowned, he abdicated and subsequently become the Duke of Windsor.
A red pillar box to be seen in St Michael’s Lane, at Scarborough in North Yorkshire, bears the cipher of King Edward V111.
St Michael's Lane, Scarborough
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