Lamp Box

Lamp Box

Lamp boxes are the smallest of the post boxes used by the Royal Mail in the UK, by its counterparts in the Commonwealth of Nations and also by An Post in Ireland. Their name derives from the fact that they were designed to be affixed to lamp posts, although they may equally be found embedded in walls or mounted on poles.

Lamp boxes were introduced on an experimental basis in September 1896, being used in parts of London as an inexpensive means of supplementing the existing Pillar box network. By July 1897 these boxes had proved successful and from then on their use spread to rural areas where the greater expense of a Ludlow wall box was not justified.

The original pattern of lamp box was produced from 1896 to circa 1935. During this time there were several variations of styles.