Old Police Box Pictures

[lorisarvendu]

Well Chris... its provisionally March 12th.

Paul says "As for photos we have hundreds scanned but again to see them you need to call in"

Hundreds...

Mark D

Whilst browsing the forum I came upon this post:
http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=1997.msg17020#msg17020

I sincerely hope that this is not what you find when you get to the archive!

[Dalekoracle]

Today was the day of my visit to the Met Archive. My contact Paul is on long term sick leave, so I was met by two gents whom I have not had any dealings with - Phil and Neil.
After ten minutes checking, I was given unrestricted access to the Archive concerning Police Boxes.
The list of Box locations is exhaustive - but it gives us the precise locations of each and every Box erected by the various Met divisions across London. Police Posts too, if posts are your bag!)
With Paul off sick, no one had scanned the original source documents, so instead of popping in to collect a copy of the list, I ended up scanning the blessed thing myself. And thats an awful lot of A4 pages. On a manual scanner. That takes a minute to scan a page.
Whilst I was doing this, I had a look at the photographic archive, and have come away with a number of new images. The files are huge so i need to resize them. So bear with me! (same goes for the list of Boxes)
Back to the list. Not only does it give the date the boxes were erected, it also tells us when they were removed too!

The image file is limited. They have hundreds upon hundreds of Police Post photos, but very few actual Box images.

However.....
This is just one file.
There are EIGHT files in deep storage covering every aspect of Police Boxes. (the file i saw has letters from the public, BBC correspondance,  Plans, council paperwork etc. To a fan of the Box, it was Square Blue Heaven!)

The other eight files have yet to be sent to the archive. But as soon as they are there, I will be notified and a follow up visit arranged.

Plans.... I have high resolution copies of the original plans saved to disk. Again, these are huge files so i need to resize.

I have mentoned our forum here, and said that we have a lot of images on here that they don't have there and they would be interested in seeing them, so I'll whiz the relevent images back across to the Met chaps.

Other interesting snippits.....

The is an actual box at "a sports ground" in the London area. Its never been removed. "Really? Thats news to me! Which sports ground is it?" - no idea. Paul might know but he is in long term sick leave, but all you have to do is research the list and cross reference and i am sure you will find it. Not ideal but tantalising! A Met box out there, unnoticed, and unloved!

Theres also discussions under way to bring the boxes back. The fact the BBC won't surrender the design is (apparantly) annoying, but the plan is to have them in town centres as combined CCTV and info points.  The Met are apparantly very keen to persue this. So, maybe one day, possibly sometime soon,  we could see the old boxes back on the streets again!

Right, i need to play catch up with work. And later, I'll have a crack at resizing some images!

Mark D

[Dalekoracle]

and a couple of photocopies of the ORGINAL Coulsdon Box.... Note, no signage around the top!!





Mark D

[petewilson]

That's great news Mark!
I bet you had a great day there!
Could you possibly refernce the Hillingdon Boxes and let me know when they were erected and dismantled!  :-)
Look forward to the scans!!

Many thanks!

Today was the day of my visit to the Met Archive.
I was given unrestricted access to the Archive concerning Police Boxes.
The list of Box locations is exhaustive - but it gives us the precise locations of each and every Box erected by the various Met divisions across London. Police Posts too, if posts are your bag!) Right, i need to play catch up with work. And later, I'll have a crack at resizing some images!

Mark D

[Dalekoracle]

Hi Pete
Hillingdon... Not sure which two you want, as there were FOUR!
But heres the info you asked for!



Mark D

[Dalekoracle]

I need to also add at this point that none of the photographs can be used for print or commercial purposes - copyrights are in force. We can use them here with the kind permission of the Met, but thats as far as it goes, so no reproducing of the images in Books please :-)

Heres a couple more to keep you entertained.....

Clapham Common...


and a lovely photo of the original Hendon Box


Mark D

[Dalekoracle]

Next Two:

Ikenham Village


and the Lee Bridge Road Box


Mark D

[domvar]

Excellent work oracle can't wait to see the plans and the location detail

[domvar]

Hi Pete
Hillingdon... Not sure which two you want, as there were FOUR!
But heres the info you asked for!



Mark D

If you look at a couple of these positions on a map it really illustrates the line of sight patrolling methods and the beat areas.

[petewilson]

Thanks for these wonderful photo's Mark!
It's good to know the Hillingdon Photo I posted last week was Box X54 (which was equipped with an Air Raid Siren!)
Can you see the other Hillingdon Box that I remember (Ryefield Avenue/Windsor Avenue) ?

Regards,

Pete

[anson]

Oh my god!

Really looking forward to the plans, this is a complete and utter goldmine of info - thank you so much!

[Dalekoracle]

Pete, apologies, the "other" box was two pages further on....

X65 is the one you want!



Mark D

[Dalekoracle]

another couple...

Old Hamswell Police Station, near Uxbridge


Junction of Oval and Kennington Park Road


Hope you are loving these pics as much as I am!

Mark D

[Dalekoracle]

A little diversion....

WON'T SOMEBODY PLEASE STOP THIS MAN!!!!!!!



Hehe

Mark D

[DoctorWho8]

The sign boxes on this one are almost to the corners!
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

A little diversion....

WON'T SOMEBODY PLEASE STOP THIS MAN!!!!!!!



Hehe

Mark D