Old Police Box Pictures

[Dalekoracle]

Thats the very one I was thinking of.

For some reason, looking at it now, I think the corner of shepards bush. But I think you are right and its probly Hounslow (or that general area).
Hopefully, with the Police Box Location list (which is being transcribed) we can positively pinpoint the exact location of this (and other) boxes. (a combination of the list and Google Streetview)

So, slough box not actually in Slough. Bugger!

Mark D

[Dalekoracle]

Kenton Road, in Harrow (spotted by Richard Berelson) over on the Francis Frith site.



Mark D

[petewilson]

I am hoping that all the rumours that I've heard over the years can be proved on here......
The number of people who (over the years) have said to me.."I remember a Police Box standing......."
High Wycombe, Slough and Bracknell beingh just three of the places!
But looking at the current evidence the Met boxes didn't appear that far out of London! 
Here's another Police Box Photo (without the Francis Frith watermark on it!) :-)

Dulwich (1965)


Pete

Thats the very one I was thinking of.

For some reason, looking at it now, I think the corner of shepards bush. But I think you are right and its probly Hounslow (or that general area).
Hopefully, with the Police Box Location list (which is being transcribed) we can positively pinpoint the exact location of this (and other) boxes. (a combination of the list and Google Streetview)

So, slough box not actually in Slough. Bugger!

Mark D

[Mark]

Pete D, that colour photo was discussed a while ago and I'm sure there were talks of that picture being the Crich box before it retired. Ealing Broadway seems to spring to mind. Could be wrong but I'm sure that was the gist of it.

[Dalekoracle]

Oh i should have just gone with my original hunch.
its the Shepards Bush box afterall.

See here:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Shepherd's+Bush+Green,+London&hl=en&ll=51.504135,-0.218997&spn=0.003352,0.022745&sll=47.73855,12.508827&sspn=32.726531,93.164063&oq=shep&hnear=Shepherd's+Bush+Green,+London+W12,+United+Kingdom&t=m&z=16&layer=c&cbll=51.504139,-0.219003&panoid=JOtGeJPp2KevZ3Ve1MClMw&cbp=11,303.5,,0,-3.22
The shop "Clayton and Son" is now "Chop Chop"


Heres another pic of it from a higher vantage point (from a clip of London Busses, on Youtube!)


And if you look at this streetview link, the box was immediately positioned in front of the grey GPO / telecoms box thing (what ARE they called?) thats still standing there.
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Shepherd's+Bush+Green,+London&hl=en&ll=51.504348,-0.219362&spn=0.003206,0.022745&sll=47.73855,12.508827&sspn=32.726531,93.164063&oq=shep&hnear=Shepherd's+Bush+Green,+London+W12,+United+Kingdom&t=m&layer=c&cbll=51.504354,-0.219357&panoid=MbnPO7jTRaM-ESgqO5eqcw&cbp=11,226.17,,0,5.83&z=16

Mark D

[petewilson]

Well done Mark...
It even looks like the same Trolleybus as well! 
The 657 ran from Hounslow to Shepherds Bush up to 1962!!

Pete

[Mark]

Just had a look at the list and the Barnet Bypass box (interestingly box 63) removed 1980 and in the comments - Resited?

I also went hunting to find the police districts to match the lists up with areas and on the Met's site is this.

Interesting icons used for police stations.

[domvar]

It would be great to find out that the Barnet box was still alive and kicking.

Are any of the Mk 3's on the list ?

Camden / Heathrow / Hendon / Nags head (A1 hollaway road).  I would be interested to know when the Mk3's were first used

[lorisarvendu]

I can tell you about the Holloway Road one.  I'm guessing this is it:

Junction of Holloway Road, west side and Parkhurst Road, east side - Holloway

It was brought into service 9th August 1937, and removed from service 2nd April 1971.


Tantalisingly two boxes are listed as having been "removed into storage"!  They are:

Charlton Road, west side opposite Station Road - Shepperton

and

Lower Road, south side at China Hall gate (Southwark Park) - Rotherhithe

For those champing at the bit, I am approximately 20 pages away from completing transcription.

[Dalekoracle]

...and i am polishing my specs for a spot of proof reading!

[domvar]

It was brought into service 9th August 1937, and removed from service 2nd April 1971.

that is much earlier than I expected, I thought the mk 3 would have been a late 40's early 50's thing.


Tantalisingly two boxes are listed as having been "removed into storage"!  They are:

Charlton Road, west side opposite Station Road - Shepperton

and

Lower Road, south side at China Hall gate (Southwark Park) - Rotherhithe


Maybe that is where the 2 mk 3's that were for sale came from.

[lorisarvendu]

Remember that the name "mk3" although seems to imply it was later than the "mk2" and "mk1", these names come purely from this forum and I believe only indicate how common each "type" was.   What the list does make plain is that each Division activated the police boxes on it's patch all around the same date.  For example A Division's boxes all came into service (posts included) in January 1938.  A Division covers the whole of the City of Westminster as far as I can make out.

Whereas J Division (Walthamstow) activated their boxes in January 1936.

The earliest I've seen so far is V Division (Richmond) where the boxes all came into service in December 1929.

So unless the different "types" show a distribution by geography (and therefore by Division) it could be more likely that the "Mk3" are simply oddities, perhaps a later replacement for a box that was damaged in some way.  This list is very vague on this point, and seems to be merely a record of the length of service of police boxes/posts in a specific location, rather than a specific box itself.  A particular Police Post (for example) could have been knocked down by traffic and replaced 2 or 3 times, and there would be no indication on the list that this had happened. 

The box at the following location is marked down as "destroyed in road accident", but presumably it was never replaced and so this was equivalent to being taken out of service:

South corner of junction of Kingston By Pass Road and South Lane - Malden

I think such incidents would be rare, as you'd have to have a pretty large vehicle to "destroy" a reinforced concrete box!

[Dalekoracle]

Regaerding k44-k57 - is my understanding of the list correct, and that those boxes were not actually erected, but Air Raid Sirens only were put up?

(referring to the following:)

On 01 Apr 65, the London borough of Havering was transfered from the
Essex Police Force to the Metropolitan Police Force. Any proposals
for the siting of Police Call Boxes or Police Call posts was,
according to the Commisioners requirements, not deemed neccesary to
Police operatins. The vacated K43 identification No. plus K44 - K57
were issued to A.R.W Sirens erected in which became the Romford subdivision
of K division on the above date.

its not particularly clear. (and why would anyone want to put up Air Raid Sirens in 1965... cold war tensions maybe?)

Hopefully we can get the full list up in the coming days. Let the proof reading commence!

Mark D

[lorisarvendu]

Old Hamswell Police Station, near Uxbridge



Mark D

http://postcardsthenandnow.blogspot.com/2011/01/hanwell-broadway-west-london-c1913.html

This cracking site identifies where the old Hanwell Police Station was on Uxbridge Road, and therefore the site of the box.  I think you could get a Timeslip photo out of it.

[Dalekoracle]

A pity about the BT phone box in the foreground, and the "old" car missing its lower wheels, as it would have made for a nice composition, so its needed to be cropped to keep it tidy. But the rest of the pic can be made to line up pretty closely.



Mark D

(need to post this in the Timeslip thread.