British Pillar Boxes Post Box Icons

British Pillar Boxes

The red pillar box is a veritable icon of the UK’s streets. The first pillar boxes started to appear in Britain in the mid-nineteenth century for the collection of mail.

A British icon

History

The very first pillar box was erected in Carlisle in 1859 and over the following years, the initial design changed from green to its now distinctive red, a colour which has been adopted by many other countries including Japan, India, Canada, Mexico, South Africa, Italy and Argentina.

Chester

Royal Cypher

Britain’s post boxes often display the initials of the reigning monarch at the foot of the pillar box. The first pillar boxes were made in cast iron though today other materials are used such as glass fibre and plastic.

Post Box and Telephone Box

As well as pillar boxes, some post boxes in the UK are built into walls and in large cities such as London double pillar boxes collect both ordinary and franked mail. Collection times are noted on the front of the box. The British Postal Museum Store in Essex has a large collection of historic pillar boxes.