A redundant postbox

Image: © Evelyn Simak Taken: 15 Jan 2009

This Ludlow postbox remains set into the wall beside the entrance to the former post office > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1121045. It has been repainted and was replaced by a pillar box > http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1121033 which is located on the other side of the road. Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne in 1952. She has had the longest reign of any British monarch since the invention of the post box (apart from Queen Victoria, who reigned for longer, but post boxes only appeared half way through her reign). There are more EIIR boxes throughout the UK and Commonwealth countries than of any other monarch. The great majority of wall box manufactured at the time of her accession was with W.T. Allen & Co. Ltd. Later, a change in contractor to Carron Co., led to a variety of boxes in both Type B and the larger Type A. The contract for manufacturing cast-iron wall boxes ceased in 1980, but in the period 1952-1980 more than 20,000 boxes were installed in the UK. Ludlow boxes are named after the Birmingham manufacturer James Ludlow & Son, who ceased the manufacture of boxes in 1965. Their boxes were fashioned from sheet metal and wood, with distinctive enamel plates and were made especially for use at sub-post offices (from 1885 to 1965). From 1953 onwards the enamel plate was replaced by a simple casting on the door which reads 'Post Office'. For this reason, enamel plates from the reign of Elizabeth II are extremely rare and there are only around a dozen left in service. http://www.answers.com/topic/wall-box - http://www.cvphm.org/Ludlows.html

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0