237 Police Boxes???????

[whitestar2010]

Found this story online this today:

By DAVE MASTERS
Sun Online

"MAP experts have tracked down all the old blue police call boxes in the UK - on which Dr Who's Tardis was modelled.
A high-tech ordinance survey map of Britain allowed them to locate all 237 PCBs still in existence.
The cubes - made redundant by cop radios in 1969 - used to be a familiar sight in cities across the country.
They had a blue light on top which used to flash when officers were needed by their station.
And they also contained a telephone which would give members of the public and officers a direct link to a cop shop.
The move to trace the boxes comes after detectives unveiled plans to introduce modern versions with internet and webcams.
When sci-fi show Dr Who started in 1963, the police box was adopted as the ideal vehicle for the fictional time lord and proved a favourite with fans."


I've seen this story before somewhere, but 237 boxes?
Those map guys HAVE go to be looking at out of date material surely. If not I'd love to know exactly where these hundreds of boxes are hiding.

 

[cyberleader1991]

Maybe that figure includes the ones made by us... 

That would be a compliment, dontcha think?  ;D

 

[mark]

I saw that artice too Whitestar.

The version I saw was something to do with Ordenance Survey but there was nothing on their site.

If I read the piece properly, they way I figured it, the 237 boxes are still on street!

I travel around quite a lot with work and I'm always keeping my eyes open for remaining police boxes, but the only ones I've seen are the ones we already know about.

Perhaps you're right Cy, maybe the map says:- Police box in Scarborogh, Police Box in Sheffield, Police Box at Puple's house.....

 

[pete d]

How many in edinburgh? Maybe 20 odd?
Newport is about, oooh, 3? Glasgow is, what, 5? UK - - maybe 7 or 8 that I know (various flavours)... it's not 200 odd, that's for sure... found a cracking photo of a Nottm one I took years ago, they should win the 'crappest police boxes ever award'.

 

[davidpk212]

Wonder if they named them all? Would be funny yo see one labelled "Purple's TARDIS", etc...!

 

[ironageman]

Certainly some wooden 'garden shed' type boxes are now used as... er...  garden sheds. But even if you stretch your imagination to there being 200 of them I don't think that the OS would mark them unless they were still in situ.

There must still be a lot of masonry ones about though - and perhaps, if you (or the OS) include the larger 'mini police station' type, there are hundreds of them. They just don't look much like the Tardis. A couple of Brighton and Hove ones were sold recently, and if you google for: scotts grimsby police box ...you'll find a Grimsby one for sale at the moment for £75,000.

 

[mark]

How much!!

Definately hope it's bigger on the inside for that price!

 

[ironageman]

Wait a mo, 20 in Edinburgh? There are many more than that...

I was browsing planning applications relating to police boxes (well, it beats having a life) and found one from 2003 for conversion of a police box on Brighton Pier "for the sale of cold food." Yes, I know, police box on Brighton Pier sounds a bit like a Tardis replica, but still, I wondered...

 

[dalethetimelord]

Actually, I don't find it hard to believe - given the still extant Scottish boxes, some in Wales, and a greater number of non-TARDIS boxes than perhaps we know about - only last night I was looking on some local council sites, and found a brick (no, really) Police Box, and a lot of metal ones, which ranged in size from a basic single wardrobe size, to a great long metal box that housed a staff sergeant!  237 isn't so hard to believe... or perhaps I'm an eternal optimist.

 

[mark]

Oooo, which site was that Dale?

 

[scruffy57]

Hi again
I haven't been on here much but I hope this could be of assistance to PCB hunters like myself.
The National Library of Scotland (NLS) has produce some excellent overlay maps of the UK.
One I use in particular is dated around 1950 and shows all the TCB's and PCB's.
I will post a link to the site and a screenshot of the Mitcham Lane Streatham PCB location

http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=19&lat=51.4194&lon=-0.1477&layers=173&b=1

Regards Scruffy

 

[hb88banzai]

Yes, the NLS offerings are quite a valuable resource (though as they state, their collection was not complete and the scanning of parts of it is still a work in progress), as is https://www.old-maps.co.uk/.

Thanks for pointing it out - starcross and I should probably have done so awhile back.

 

[galacticprobe]

Wow! Too bad we can't get a copy of that map to post here. (We'd need an entire page and probably more to fit it!)

Thanks for pointing it out - starcross...

I think you mean "scruffy" (scruffy57).

...and I should probably have done so awhile back.

Mmmmm... ??? : Yeah... maybe. ;D ;D ;D (Don't worry; we won't hold it against you. )

Dino.

 

[hb88banzai]

Wow! Too bad we can't get a copy of that map to post here. (We'd need an entire page and probably more to fit it!)

Thanks for pointing it out - starcross...

I think you mean "scruffy" (scruffy57).

Nope - put a dash between the clauses for a separate thought. Starcross is the person I told about it when I first came across the site about a year-and-a-half ago as a higher and cleaner resolution alternative (though harder to work with) to the Old-maps site mentioned above, particularly when researching Edinburgh, so is the only one of us that knew about it before now and thus could have posted the url.

Wasn't sure anyone else was really interested at the time, so sorry, my bad :-[.

BTW - you don't get an image of the whole map at the NLS site, only the portion currently in your viewer, which is generally a small portion of same when zoomed in enough to really see the Box or Post. You can buy a copy of the whole map, but the expense would get out of hand very rapidly considering the number of maps involved of various dates and sizes for all the Metropolitan Police district (coverage is not complete, either), to say nothing of Glasgow and Edinburgh as well.

 

[domvar]

They mean this sort of thing there is one near me that has just been sold off as well so 237 sounds a bit low but it's not really a box it's a mini police station with a phone door

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/1957205.htm/

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.8430091,-0.1349354,3a,40.5y,135.31h,85.08t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1svcmT3Ui5bqmgemzM127lgA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

 

[starcross]

Starcross is the person I told about it when I first came across the site..., so is the only one of us that knew about it before now and thus could have posted the url.

Don't drag me into this , the site was useless for Edinburgh so I forgot all about it.
London has some good coverage in 1:2500 scale though. It also covers a fair bit of Kent as well.

I managed to find PA1 Pillars in Rochester, even managed to find a photo for the Pillar at the Bottom of Star Hill. I walked past the spot many times the last time I was in the UK. So it was interesting to see they had Pillars all over the place on the High Street. I wonder if that is the origin for the Chatham Police Museum Pillar?

 

[galacticprobe]

Nope - put a dash between the clauses for a separate thought.

Oops. (Darned stanky old wizzard eyes of mine! Must have been a bit blurry when I read that because I didn't see the dash. Could also be these glasses; I'm about due for a new pair... and an eye exam!)

Wasn't sure anyone else was really interested at the time, so sorry, my bad :-[.

No worries, HB. I was mostly kidding... about your comment about posting that map link earlier (presumably before someone else did). I just found my interest in the Edinburgh boxes over this past summer, so I don't feel like I was really missing out on the map.

BTW - you don't get an image of the whole map at the NLS site, only the portion currently in your viewer, which is generally a small portion of same when zoomed in enough to really see the Box or Post. You can buy a copy of the whole map, but the expense would get out of hand very rapidly considering the number of maps involved of various dates and sizes for all the Metropolitan Police district (coverage is not complete, either), to say nothing of Glasgow and Edinburgh as well.

I know what you mean. It's like looking at a Google Map of the neighborhood where I grew up, zoomed in enough to pick out the house my great-grandparents built way back when. On that scale just my block alone would take up a 4' x 6' section of wall! Fitting the whole neighborhood together would wallpaper the entire house... from the outside!

I've also seen some historical maps (mostly nautical: ports with roads leading to them; charts of the waterways, etc.) and you're quite right; they are very large and the cost of getting a printed version can enter the hundreds (in USD and GBP). When I was doing nautical living history we would get some reduced prints of those charts and maps for our Navigation displays, 3' x 5' size, and even they weren't cheap. (Thankfully our Living History Association had some modestly semi-deep pockets. )

Dino.

 

[hb88banzai]

Starcross is the person I told about it when I first came across the site..., so is the only one of us that knew about it before now and thus could have posted the url.

Don't drag me into this , the site was useless for Edinburgh so I forgot all about it.
London has some good coverage in 1:2500 scale though. It also covers a fair bit of Kent as well.

Hmmmm... I thought I found some decent coverage for Edinburgh - at least for early maps. Must have been imagining things again. Sorry - all on me then.

 

[hb88banzai]

Starcross -- Nope, looks like my original impression was accurate. The interface is incredibly obtuse and non-intuitive to work with, having to go to just the right place in just the right section with just the right bits selected to see what you want, but dig deep enough and they do indeed have 1:1250 and 1:2500 scale maps for Edinburgh in the prime years of the 1940s to the 1960s.  

Click on "Find by Place" up top and on the left side select "England and Wales, Ordnance Survey" and then "OS 1:1250 / 1:2500, 1940s-1960s", then navigate to where you want and click on the point to reference to get individual sheets that are available for that point on the right. Click on one of these and it will take you to the specific sheet, where you can zoom in to very fine detail. It allows you to print a PDF of the current viewer output (framing and resolution), so if you wanted to do the whole map at a usable resolution you would have to laboriously stitch it together from many, many pieces (or you can purchase a copy of the whole sheet from them starting at £9.00 (incl. VAT) for a presumably moderate resolution jpeg digital download, or £15.60 plus shipping for a max resolution TIFF image on CD (benefit of no compression artifacts), or even more for a print at the size of your choice - all the way up to the original map size, with appropriately climbing prices and shipping charges). When done looking at an individual sheet, just hit the back arrow to take you back to where you were on the previous screen to select another sheet or move to a new location.

Example for the Box on Pier Place at the Slipway, outside the Fish Market (if this works): http://maps.nls.uk/geo/find/#zoom=19&lat=55.9810&lon=-3.1955&layers=61&b=1&point=55.9810,-3.1954

Going to the "Explore georeferenced maps" up top and "Scotland" on the left (noting the inconsistency with the above) will give you a subset map seamlessly stitched together, with the option of seeing a current satellite overlay superimposed. Only one generic layer representing all that is available is shown and you can't access the sheets directly from there, but this view can be useful for scrolling and zooming to zero in on a place (hopefully finding a Box or Post), even giving you measurement tools and coordinate info (National Grid, as well as decimal Lat/Long and deg/min/sec Lat/Long for the cursor's position on the map  8)). You can then switch back to "Find by place" in the header and it will keep you at the same place with the simplified modern map and the available sheets on the right, as described previously.

Example (again if it works): http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=19&lat=55.9810&lon=-3.1955&layers=170&b=1

Switching back and forth like this is clunky (to say nothing of navigating to the right place in the menus to begin with), but despite all that it should be every bit as useful as I had thought, which is why I alerted you to the site at the time.

I think they have some c1932 Edinburgh maps (in a different series) as well, but haven't re-found those yet (again, have to look in juuussst the right place to find them).

 

[petewilson]

I thought I would give this site a go and tried  both High Wycombe and Hastings...
But it seems that they don't have the  relevant OS maps unless I'm doing something wrong..... ???