Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Letter boxes with their own tale to tell
Here’s why these city post boxes have a history worth writing home about...
You’ve probably walked past each of these post boxes in Canterbury at some point. But did you know how long they have been fixtures of the city? The oldest is located in Military Road and is Canterbury’s only remaining Victorian letter box. It is in the brick wall directly under the sign for CW Lyons funeral business. The building used by the firm was once the vicarage to St Gregory’s Church.
As marked on the bottom panel, the so-called “wall box” was made by W T Allen & Co London, under a contract won by that company in 1881. Such boxes are not uncommon, but this one rates as a rarity as it is closed by a metal plate to show it is not in use. In place of collection times it has a short historical description of the box, which is now dirty and difficult to read.
It says: “This Victorian post box was installed circa 1880 and remained in use until mid 1990. Due to its capacity no longer meeting the requirements of the local community and problems of clearance following highway modernisation, it was decided to withdraw the box from service. This box is now retained for its historical interest and link with Canterbury...”
Another wall box of note is located in the Borough at the Mint Yard Gate entrance to the King’s School and dates from the reign of Edward VII (1901 to 1910). Further examples from this era can be found in Longport, at 31 Wincheap and in Nunnery Fields. Another free-standing box stands beside Canterbury East station.
Information and pictures used with kind permission of Canterbury Historical and Archaeological Society (CHAS).