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Norwich boxes?

P

paul hayes

New member
Here's an odd one. I noticed last night that someone had asked Clayton Hickman on Twitter whether there were ever boxes in Norwich, as his mother remembered there being one at the junction of Unthank Road and Colman Road, outside the Colman Hospital:

https://twitter.com/2hrTV/status/855508995691483136

I've lived in Norwich for 15 years, for most of that time in the Unthank Road area, and had never heard anything about the possibility of any Norwich boxes.

I thought it was unlikely but was intrigued, and after a search found one other anecdotal reference to a police box on this spot, in a memory submitted to the BBC's "People's War" website in 2003. No clarification on what type of box, however:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/95/a1905095.shtml

I also found, in the comments on this photo on Flickr, someone mentioning a "police box like the Tardis" at another site in Norwich, at what's now the Lidl in Hellesdon:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stumcp/4112896260

I have the advantage of being able to ask the people of Norfolk for any memories of this on local radio, which I will do later today, but... Could there *really* have been a TARDIS-like box in Norwich...?
 
Hi Paul,

I can't find any evidence of there ever being any Met-Type Police Boxes in Norwich.......
Sometimes  memories do become blurred and the "box" that was mentioned is actually this Police Post that was outside the shops in Unthank Road......
Anyway what station will you be  talking about this on?
Ahhh and give my regards to Alan Partridge!!   ;D

m1999-28a-nch-unthank-road-1966-1024x678.jpg
 
Well, it made for a diverting hour anyway!

Many callers claiming to remember Met-style or similar to Met-style boxes in Norfolk, although I do remain highly sceptical.

One caller did say he has a 1920s / 30s postcard of the Colman Road / Unthank Road box, showing it as a garden shed-style one, not a Met box. Although a latter caller claimed she remembered it later being a Met-type box.

Anyway, of you fancy a listen it's here on the iPlayer for the next 30 days:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04z6jw0
 
I have really spent too much time today researching Norwich......  ;D
Here's my last photo proof of the sheds......These two were in Bracondale......

If you manage to get hold of that book Paul please post the photo's on here!

Bracondale 1934-02-20.jpgBracondale 1934-01-21.jpg
 
Thanks for the photos - very interesting.

I suspect a lot of the callers were suffering from false memories when reporting Met-style boxes, but isn't it interesting that there were so many of them?

I will report back if I find out more!
 
My final conclusion is that Norwich had the Police Sheds plus a few "Met-Type"  Police Posts scattered around the city...
Those people calling into the show were mistaking them for Tardis's only because they were blue with lamps on top!!
Here's another photo from the 1960's in the St. Andrews area of Norwich....

St Andrews, Norwich (1960's).jpg
 
petewilson said:
My final conclusion is that Norwich had the Police Sheds plus a few "Met-Type"  Police Posts scattered around the city...
View attachment 167353
Click to expand...

This is actually the Regional Police Post Variant, the single bulge Amber/Red Glass and the lack of a casting on the Front mark it as such. 
The Met Type Posts actually have M♔P cast into the front above the front sign with a fresnel Lens (lots of prisms).

Its too far way to see if its PA2 (1938) or PA3 (1955), the usual tells are indistinguishable, the Door handle and presence of Bolts. 
Though I would hazard a guess that it was a PA3 with the Blots up the sides as most of the Regional Posts were.

What I Find interesting is the the PA1 GPO lantern is on a bracket on the Post beside the Police post. It suggests that the system dates to the 1930s.
Sure enough "Rise & Fall" Page 71 says Norwich City Police finished installing their system in 1934.
It also has a photo on Page 91 Showing the old PA1 Pillars being replaced by a PA3 Post as of 1963 apparently.

So looks like that additional lantern was either a Secondary to the Main PA1 Pillar, or it was the Main Lantern and mounted high for visibility instead of being mounted on top of the pillar. I'm not sure about the other electrical boxes mounted on there, but that Post doesn't look like it is just for lighting the intersection.

Such an interesting photo.
 
Looks like they are sharing te supplier with Ipswich (which makes sense geographically)

http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?topic=6759.0

If Alan is around,

Can we get this thread shifted into the non Tardis box board with all the others for the sake of tidiness :) and maybe change the name of it from Non tardis boxes to Regional Boxes or something a bit more descriptive as I think the use of posts has clouded the issue.

http://tardisbuilders.com/index.php?board=126.0

 
Extremely late reply, but my OS map searches can confirm there was a police box there. It was the shed type, as evidenced from the pics in this thread, but it's always nice to have a good document of where the boxes were, even if they're not the familiar type. Thought I'd just add a little bit of my searches here since I'm making a map of as many non-London police boxes and posts I can find on OS maps!

Screen Shot 2018-08-11 at 12.19.03.png
 
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