Last week we had a look at an interesting letterbox, of the pillar variety, in Loughborough, that did not have a royal cipher, known as an anonymous box. Ours has a low aperture for the insertion of letters, and is less common than those with a high aperture, and only around 200 of these remain in use. The low aperture also means we can date the box from between 1883, when the lower apertures came into use, and 1887, when the royal ciphers were included on the boxes.
Most pillar boxes do carry a royal cipher. These range from VR for Queen Victoria (reigned 1837-1901), EVIIR for Edward VII (reigned 1901-1910), GR for George V (reigned 1910-1936), EVIIIR for the short reign of Edward VIII (1936), GVIR for George VI (reigned 1936-1952), to EIIR for Elizabeth II (reigned 1952-2022). Any new boxes installed since the death of the queen will carry the cipher of King Charles III, i.e. CIIIR.
We are lucky in Loughborough to have boxes of all ages scattered around, apart from those installed during the reign of Edward VIII. To be fair, there are only around 150 of these still in existence around the country, so it's not surprising that we don't have any.
In respect of pillar boxes, I've only managed to locate two that were installed during the reign of Queen Victoria, but I'm sure there must be more!!! Although these two boxes are essentially the same, both having a low aperture, both bearing the words POST OFFICE, each word being either side of the aperture, both bearing the VR cipher, collection plate with moulded surround, and both bearing a lock on the right-hand side of the box with a metal strip just about discernible along the door opening, there are two differences.
The box which stands on Forest Road, on the left-hand side of the road as you come towards the town centre, just after the Wood Brook ends, where the road becomes two-way, only has a collection plate, whereas the box on Moor Lane, at its junction with Trinity Street, also has a collection number holder, at the top and to the right of the collection plate.
The other difference is that the box on Forest Road used to have a directional arrow on its top, which pointed the way to the nearest post box. I don't think the Moor Lane box had one of these (but to be truthful, the boxes are taller than me so I can't quite see on top, unless there is something most definitely sticking up!!!)
Sadly, the boxes have been re-painted so often, or the metalwork has started to corrode, so it's difficult to read the name of the maker that appears on the bottom portion of these boxes. I have a feeling though, that the Forest Road box might say Handyside, but am really not sure about the Moor Lane box.
Here are the two boxes in question:
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| Moor Lane VR box taken in 2014 (apologies for the blurriness) |
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| The Forest Road VR box in 2017 |
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| The Forest Road VR box in 2019 |
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| The Forest Road VR box base in 2019 |
Next week we'll investigate some of the other pillar boxes around town.
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posted by lynneaboutloughborough
With apologies for typos which are all mine!
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