letterbox III

Letterboxes where letters can be posted where first introduced in the Channel Isles in 1852, after an investigation of how to improve mail collection due to the irregular sailing times caused by weather and tides.

This VR box in Guernsey is the oldest box in use in the British Isles.

They were an instant success, despite some obvious problems with rainwater getting in.

Before the introduction of pillar boxes, on the UK mainland, it was customary to take outgoing mail to the nearest letter receiving house or post office. Such houses were usually coaching inns or turnpike houses where the Royal Mail coach would stop to pick up and set down mails and passengers. People took their letters, in person, to the receiver, or postmaster, purchased a stamp (after 1840) and handed over the letter.

Note : This system seems to be coming back into fashion with postal drop of and collection points in supermarkets, tobacconists and other places.

The very first mainland pillarbox was erected in Botchergate, Carlisle in 1853. 

According to the Letter Box Study Group, there are more than 150 recognised designs and varieties of pillar boxes and wall boxes, not all of which have known surviving examples

 
Much more info at the British Postal Museum & Archive website in London.

Special Air Mail boxes were introduced in 1919 for letters to Europe ans the British colonies abroad ! There were special vehicles to collect the mail and the service lasted until the outbreak of war in 1939. 

Air mail continued after the war, but ould be posted in the regular (mostly red) boxes.

The pillar (letter) box has undergone many upgrades of it's design since it's introduction. Here are a few examples of unusual ones :

Transparent box at Heathrow terminal 5 which allows visual inspection for security purposes.

And for the 2012 Summer Olympics pillar boxes were painted gold in the home town of each Great Britain team member who won a gold medal, as well as a demonstration model near Westminster Abbey. A website mapping the gold boxes was provided. The boxes, originally intended to be repainted to the traditional red in due course, will remain gold painted permanently.






If and when pillar boxes become extinct they can be retired to the Oakham Treasures, Gordano, Bristol OR one of the many other museums scattered about the world.