Dorset Postboxes – Shaftesbury and Gillingham
| Sun, 14 Oct 2012 20:44 Chris Downer |
There are 105 postboxes in the SP7 (Shaftesbury) and SP8 (Gillingham) postal areas, which are located within the county of Dorset. This includes two boxes which actually come under SP5 (Salisbury) but are in Ashmore which is within Dorset. They are plotted on this map. Being a mainly rural area, there is a fair majority of lamp and wall boxes over pillar boxes. Standard pillar boxes There are just three standard-size pillar boxes in the area, all of them Elizabeth II-reign:    Modern pillar boxes There are four more modern pillar boxes - two ‘Type K’ dating from 1980 onwards, and two different designs found, respectively, on garage forecourts and in supermarkets etc.:     Large pillar boxes There are two; an Edward VII and an Elizabeth II-reign one:   Wall boxes There are 29 boxes, of whatever design, set into a brick structure. Two are incorporated into the fabric of a post office building:   Three are 'Ludlow' boxes, designed specifically for sub-post offices (although I believe the first has since been replaced with an ordinary lamp box):    The first two are Elizabeth II and the third, George VI. Of the others, one is Victorian:  Two are Edward VII:   Five are George V:      Five are George VI:      And remaining twelve are Elizabeth II (the first seven are of a lamp box design):             |
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| Sun, 14 Oct 2012 20:58 Chris Downer |
Lamp boxes Firstly, there is one ‘Type M’ box - a modern alternative design for the lamp box:  And there are 65 lamp boxes (excluding those set into walls and illustrated above), designed to be strapped to lampposts and the like, but more usually nowadays found mounted on a pole. Two are of an earlier design with an arched or rounded top (one Edward VII, one George VI):   …and the remaining 63 are of the familiar squareish design. Two George VI, one on a wooden post and one on a metal pole:   And of the remaining 61 Elizabeth II specimens, two are strapped to a telegraph pole:   Ten to a wooden post:           And the remaining 49 are mounted on a metal pole:                                                  =========================================== Finally, we should just mention one other box, which misses out on the list by being - literally by a few yards - over the border in Wiltshire. The centre of the main road forms the county boundary.  |
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