AA Box 723

Out for a jaunt down past St Mary's Loch we came across an old AA box, and as it occurred to us that we haven't seen one for years, thought it might be good for a blip.

According to this website, these boxes were abandonned by the AA in 2oo2 and
this decision was reported in the national press, along with the AA's plans to dispose of its remaining 21 roadside boxes, 13 of which it was offering to transport museums. The decision was made to seek one of these, and the Society was given a choice of two boxes, both in Scotland. It emerged that one of these was at Cappercleuch in the Scottish Borders, quite close to Moffat, close to the home of the son of a Society member, who was promptly dispatched to photograph it and duly sent us a whole film full. One of our members living in Glasgow also went to the trouble of coming down to take pictures.

A little later two of our members while in Scotland went to see the box for themselves. It was complete enough, but in quite a poor state of repair, with one front corner fallen away and the door hanging open restrained only by a piece of string and/or two stones. It looked very much as though the combination of Scottish climate and the box's situation "far from the madding crowd" made it an ideal shelter for passing walkers caught in the rain. Clearly, the sooner the box was removed from the site the better.

The AA's offer was formally accepted in April 2003, and transport possibilities were investigated. However, the project came to an abrupt halt when Historic Scotland applied for all remaining boxes in Scotland to have listed status, which would mean that they could not be moved. The box has since seen restoration work

And here it is, the famous, listed, Cappercleuch AA box.