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Meanwhile an iron wall box was made by Smith & Hawkes
for the Birmingham District, and after some improvements others were commissioned. They cost only a quarter of the price of pillar boxes, and 250 were made by September 1858.
Because this was a new invention, there were a number of design faults with the early Victorian boxes, and several changes were made over the next few decades. As rainwater
was finding its way through the open mouth, a small pediment and hood was added over the aperture. Adjustments were made to the crown and cipher; a small door pull was added; the hood was enlarged; a
collection plate was added (to show which was the next collection to be made); the aperture was made wider; the keyhole had a protective cover added.
In 1881 the contract for making wall letter boxes passed to W.T. Allen & Company. Such details enable fairly accurate dating of the three Victorian wall boxes in
Hungerford.
Several wallboxes were used in Hungerford: 1877 - Newtown and Charnham Street 1883 - Barton Court, Mount Pleasant and Half-Way 1885 - Buttermere Rectory
1897 - Lower Denford 1899 - Eddington, Railway Station, The Croft 1902 - Vernham Street 1905 - Harrow Farm.
Only three remain.
The oldest wall box is at Charnham House, Charnham Street. This is a box made by Smith & Hawkes of Birmingham. It is a "Number 2 (small) improved" wall box of 1861
design. The door has a door pull, and the collection plate is below the aperture.
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The wall box at the Police Station
in Park Street is by W.T. Allen & Co. It is a "Small 'C' size" wall box, which dates it from after 1881. It was probably the one named "Railway Station" of 1899.
The royal cipher and crown is at the top; the words 'POST OFFICE' are on the hood; the collection plate is mounted on the door in a beading rather than a recess, and there is
provision for a 'NEXT COLLECTION' tablet in the top right-hand corner of the plate.
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In 1899, under Postmaster Joseph Mathews, the first Town Sub Office at 2 Oxford Street, Eddington was opened, on 10th April 1899 under a postmistress, Miss Mary Brothers. A wall box was placed outside.
This wall box also started life as a Small 'C' size wall box by WT Allen (post 1881).
In 1949 a survey showed that there were 100,000 letter boxes in service which had posting apertures less than 8 inches (200mm) wide. There was criticism from the public about
the inconvenience of their continued use. By 1956 there were still 30,000 in use, mostly in rural areas such as Hungerford, and a plan was inaugurated to provide one wall box with a wider aperture in
each village. This still left 5,000 boxes to be dealt with, so a contractor was engaged to modify the existing boxes in situ by cutting out the aperture and fitting a new casting over it. This was carried out between 1959 and 1965.
The Eddington wall box was modified in this way between 1959 and 1965.
A further Victorian wall box was installed by the Post Office Authorities in the Croft, near the Railway Bridge in January 1892, but it no longer exists.
Victorian boxes, all marked clearly with VR (Victoria Regina) are now listed due to the efforts of the Pillar Box Society.
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