L is for Lucy Box

From Ladybird, through Loughborough to Lucy boxes, the choice of topic to write about for the letter ‘L’ is enormous! But, I’ve written loads about Ladybird Books on this blog (more links below), and I’ve had some fabulous guest posts on the topic, from Kathy and Wim, so you’ve probably heard enough about these for the time being! And, let’s face it, this whole blog – all 11½ years of it, and all 544 posts – are either directly about Loughborough, or something connected to Loughborough so you could take lynneaboutloughborough as the entry for the letter ‘L’.

But, let’s not!

So, Lucy Boxes it is then!

The Lucy Box is an iconic piece of street furniture, perhaps not as iconic as the letter box or the telephone kiosk, but iconic nonetheless. Which, of course, means we walk straight past any we might come across without either giving them a second glance or a second thought.

But, what are they?

While I was out searching for just what exactly a Lucy Box is and why it was so called, I discovered that almost every website I encountered described them thus:

‘A Lucy Box is about 3 feet high, about 2 feet wide, and about 18 inches deep, and are to be found on pavements.’ So they appear to be a standard size.

Apparently, originally they were used in connection with the tram network, and then the trolley bus network, then as part of the general electricity supply, and then for telephone purposes, from which I’m guessing that ours must be of the newer variety, as to my knowledge we didn’t have trams or trolleybuses. Or did we?

Anyway, I must admit that my favourite description is this:

“A Lucy Box is a metal box of electrical gubbins that sits by the side of the road.” Just the kind of thing I might have said myself!

Apparently, the earlier boxes were made of cast iron, and were known as pillars. The name comes from the fact that those earlier ones were made at the Lucy Foundry in Oxford, which began in 1803, and is apparently still active. Originally the boxes were green in colour, but newer ones were silver.

Lucy Boxes in some towns are elaborate, rather than having plain, smooth sides, and some towns have boxes of different sizes. One of ours is relatively plain, but is quite enormous, but I’ve no idea why! It can be found almost on the corner of Wallace Road at its junction with Beacon Road. I've just walked past it today, whilst thinking 'what can I write about for the letter 'L' blogpost?' but rarely noticed it, and certainly didn't think to measure it!!! Update: ok, so I've just been out again, and this time taken some photos (because although I know I've got some I can't find them, which is a pity because the box was somewhat less colourful a while ago!) and measured the box (approximately!). Result: 

Our box is approximately 5 feet 8 inches tall - without the 'roof' - and approximately 14 inches deep. The tin can is for reference only!

So, I hope you’re now inspired to go Lucy Box hunting! If you spot any other unusual ones, I’d love to hear about them! And, if you want to know more about Lucy Boxes, have a look at the Wolverhampton History and Heritage Society webpages, which has some super information and some great photos!

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Links to Ladybird Books posts:  Ladybird (6) Ladybird Books (17) Ladybird Collective (1) 

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This post is one of a series for the ‘April A-Z Blogging Challenge’

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Posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

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