Over the past two weeks, we've been looking at some interesting pillar boxes in Loughborough, firstly a rare anonymous box, followed by a couple of pillar boxes bearing the VR cipher. This week, let's stick with pillar boxes, and have a quick tour around those with the EVIIR cipher, the GR cipher, and the GVIR cipher.
Sadly, we don't have any EVIIIR boxes in Loughborough, but we do have at least a couple of EVIIR boxes. Out on Ashby Road, close to its junction with Epinal Way, the EVIIR box stands proud outside the university's Harry French halls of residence, in the grounds of The Grove, on the left-hand side of the road as you come into town from the roundabout. It's actually This box dates from between 1901, when Edward VII became king on the death of his mother, Queen Victoria, and 1910, when he himself died, and was made by McDowell, Steven & Co..
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| EVIIR outside The Grove, 2016 |
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| A close-up of the EVIIR cipher, 2013 |
The other EVIIR box is on Empress Road, located outside the corner shop at its junction with Judges Street. Again, we can date this box to 1901-1910, and it was also made by the firm of McDowell, Steven & Co.. The houses adjoining the shop were built in 1900, and those a couple of doors down have a distinct Edwardian look about them. A number of houses the opposite direction, closer to where there is a wall bearing shrapnel marks from the Zeppelin bomb attack of 1916, were built in 1903ish. It would seem that as the area grew, so did the need for a post box. This is the corner shop that Josiah Gilbert, who was killed by the Zeppelin bomb, ran.
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| Empress Road EVIIR box, 2022 |
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| Close-up of the EVIIR cipher, 2022 |
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| Empress Road box outside the corner shop, 2022 |
Upon the death of Edward VII, in May 1910, George V became king, and reigned until his own death in January 1936. As you'd expect, we have more George V pillar boxes than those with ciphers of the earlier monarchs, and these are distinguishable from those of George VI's time, as George V's cipher is simply GR. Pillar boxes placed in Loughborough between 1910 and 1936 can be found on Forest Road, outside the shop; Knightthorpe Road, just after and opposite Dean Street; Leicester Road, at its junction with Factory Street; Old Ashby Road, at its junction with Windleden Road close to the shop; about halfway along Outwoods Drive; Cordell Road, off Braddon Road, and on Shelthorpe Road, at its junction with Woodthorpe Road. All these boxes were made by the Carron company.The box on Forest Road outside the shop is interesting as it at one time had a directional arrow on its cap, but now no longer does.
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| Forest Road GR, with missing directional arrow, 2022 |
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| Close-up of the GR cipher, Forest Road, 2022 |
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| Maker's mark on the bottom of the pillar box, Forest Road, 2022 |
This is also true of the pillar box on Leicester Road which is situated outside a barber's shop, but which used to be a post office. |
| Leicester Road GR pillar box, 2022 |
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| GR box, Leicester Road, showing missing directional arrow, 2022 |
The GR pillar box on Cordell Road is a little puzzling as it sits in amongst a housing estate that was created in the 1970-1980s, and until the mid-twentieth century, the area of Thorpe Acre only had about 20 or so houses. I'm guessing this box was here before the newer estate was built. |
| GR box on Cordell Road, 2022 |
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| GR box on Cordell Road, 2022 |
Sadly, as I said above, I haven't found any pillar boxes in Loughborough bearing the EVIIIR cipher, and not many GVIR boxes either. The latter, dating between 1936 and 1952, appear on Beacon Road, opposite the junction to Herrick Road; Nottingham Road outside the former Towles factory, now SOFA, and close to Clarence Street, and on the corner of Broad Street, close to its junction with Ashby Road. The latter was positioned next to the post office, which is now an Oriental supermarket, before moving to the opposite side of the road, and now Ashby Road being without a post office. As far as I can tell, all the GVIR boxes in Loughborough were made by the Carron company.
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| GVIR box on Broad Street, 2022 |
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| Close-up of the George VI cipher, Broad Street, 2022 |
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| A clear maker's mark on GVIR box on Broad Street, 2022 |
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posted by lynneaboutloughborough
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