There’s quite a lot to say about this old Penfold Post Box (as it’s now officially known). When it was first installed in Carshalton Beeches over 150 years ago, around 1866, it would have been painted green and gold. About 10 – 15 years later it became red.
It’s a much loved but short-lived design created by John Wornham Penfold, who lived in Haselmere in Surrey (the same county of course, that this box was once in).
There’s a replica of this design in London that was created to commemorate 500 years of the post office in 2016, and it was Penfold’s hexagonal Victorian design that was chosen, to be unveiled by Prince Charles.
*Bonus fun fact* The spectacled hamster in the cartoon Danger Mouse, who lives inside a post box, is named Penfold. This is to honour the creator of this design classic still in use today at Beeches Avenue.
Finally, a big nod to the post office for recently painting all the post boxes in the area (including this one). It seems so rare nowadays for large organisations to have any civic pride. A big thanks!
Additional images CBBC and Ian Mansfield
I have some nice photos of both the Carshaton Penfold and City green Penfold on my instagram account if anyone is interested @pillar_box_red
Thank you for sharing this information. It was incredibly interesting.
I’m really glad you found it interesting too
Having come across this pillar box when walking along Beeches Avenue, I was intrigued as to why a c.1870s box was in this position, given that the neighbouring houses are all Edwardian in appearance.
On further investigation:
The 1895 25 inch map shows the road (then called Beechnut Tree Road) with only a farm (Barrowhedges Farm – by then accessed opposite slightly north of where this postbox stands) and a large house (Barrow Hedges) further south. No postboxes are marked (and I suggest a full size one wouldn’t have been justified – if there had been one, a wall box would have been more likely).
The houses along this stretch of Beeches Avenue are first marked on the 1913 25 inch map, which is consistent with their Edwardian appearance (incidentally on that map the road is called The Beeches). No postbox is marked at the current site, although one is shown further north along the road, just south of the Waverley Way/Sussex Road crossroads – so it is not a case of postboxes not being marked.
It is not until the 1935 edition (by which time the road had become The Beeches Avenue – so still not exactly the current name) that a postbox is shown at this point (but the one further north is no longer shown).
So whilst I am not suggesting that the Beeches Avenue box itself is not original (as opposed to a replica, of which a number were made in the 1980s), it would seem that the position may not be and it may have originally been elsewhere. Does anyone know anything further?
Incidentally, all maps referred to can be found the National Library of Scotland’s website at https://maps.nls.uk/