Police Box, Newtown Linford, Newtown Linford, Leicestershire

Summary

A Leicestershire Police telephone box of around 1931, moved to its present location in 1952.

Description

A Leicestershire Police telephone box of around 1931, moved to its present location in 1952.

MATERIALS: timber panels with riveted metal brackets to the sides.

PLAN: rectangular, approximately 1.8m by 2.4m. Orientated north-west / south-east with the doorway in the north-west elevation.

EXTERIOR: four sides under a very shallow, nearly flat pitched roof over a frieze and cornice. The box sits on a low brick and concrete plinth, which it slightly overhangs. The box is painted dark blue, with each elevation divided into three panels held in place by riveted metal brackets which surround the edges of each panel. A plain skirting runs continuously around the base except where it is broken by the door. A sign reading ‘LEICESTERSHIRE CONSTABULARY’ is on the frieze over the north-west doorway. The frieze on the north-east and south-west elevations displays the word ‘POLICE’ in applied letters, while the south-east elevation has a ventilation grille. The central panel of the front, north-west facing elevation has a narrow, recessed door with a single central panel and new handle and lock. The two flanking panels each have a narrow frosted-glass window divided by a single mullion. The other elevations all have a central vertical window of frosted glass divided into four lights by three mullions.

INTERIOR: not inspected but it is understood that the box contains a fitted desk and cabinet, though not its original telephone equipment.

History

Policing in England is organised on a territorial level, with the county of Leicestershire served by Leicestershire Police. This force originated as the Leicestershire County Constabulary and was formed in 1839 under the terms of that year’s County Police Act. In an effort to increase the efficiency of the force, particularly in responding to incidents in areas distant from a police station, Leicestershire introduced police telephone boxes in 1931. At this time home telephones were uncommon and members of the public would either need to find a patrolling policeman or go direct to a station to seek assistance or report a crime. The first four boxes were in the slightly more remote Leicestershire towns and villages of Lutterworth, Arnesby, North Kilworth and Ullesthorpe. The box now in Bradgate Park at Newtown Linford is the one originally located in North Kilworth; it was moved to its present location in 1952.

The idea of a system of boxes detached from a controlling central police station originated in the United States in the late-C19, and in the United Kingdom was first adapted in Glasgow in 1891, with the first English examples being introduced in Sunderland County Borough police force in 1923. As policing is the responsibility of regional bodies, the form and use of boxes varied between forces. The most widespread design for police boxes deployed in the UK is that of 1929 by the Metropolitan Police surveyor Gilbert MacKenzie Trench (1885 – 1979); this was used not only in London, but in Glasgow when that city replaced its original 1890s boxes. Most other forces employed simpler designs, more reminiscent of street kiosks or garden sheds. All police boxes would have contained telephone equipment, and other common elements would be a desk for writing reports and first aid supplies. The boxes of many forces had a light either on the top of the box or fixed at a nearby widely visible point that could be activated from the station if a patrolling officer needed to be contacted, but the Leicestershire style box does not seem to have employed this feature.

One of the other original Leicestershire police boxes survives; the box from Lutterworth is now located outside Abbey Lane Pump House Museum in Leicester. This is of the same design as the Newtown Linford box, though painted buff. This box retains more detail to its front than the Newtown Linford one with two boxes under the windows flanking the door; one for the police telephone, the other for a first aid box. The Lutterworth box has a simple six panel door with a letterbox, and it has a glass covered box inserted at handle level with a sign above saying’ TO OPEN BREAK GLASS AND EXTRACT KEY’.

From the 1960s police officers were increasingly issued with radio handsets and telephones became much more widespread in private homes. These changes meant that police boxes became redundant and most were demolished in the 1970s. The Newtown Linford box is unusual as it is still used by Leicestershire Police, although now only for public engagement events. It has been repaired on several occasions after being hit by motor vehicles, and the door appears to be a replacement.

Reasons for Listing

The Police Box at Newtown Linford, a police telephone kiosk of around 1931, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural Interest:

* the box is of distinctive size and shape and is instantly recognisable as a police telephone box;

* the police box is one of only two known from Leicestershire, and it is of a design type not seen in other policing areas. It is evidence of both the rarity of this survival and the territorial nature of British policing with its variations in infrastructure between forces.

Historic Interest:

* once a common site in the early and mid C20, the increasing home ownership of telephones in the 1960s led to police boxes becoming obsolete, and they are now very rare survivals in England;

* the box has group value with the neighbouring Grade II* listed All Saints Church (NHLE 1074679) and the Grade II listed old Sunday School (NHLE 1177299). Together they form a group of buildings connected both spatially and in their shared community function.

External Links

Historic England Listing

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