Victorian Post

This Victorian postbox is in Bexley, Kent. I can't tell you how many times I must have passed it travelling between the village and my childhood home in Welling, both as passenger and driver, but I only noticed it a few weeks ago for the first time. Mum said its been there as long as she can remember. A mile or so up the road is Blendon, where my paternal Grandparents ran the Post Office and General Hardware store, and no doubt they knew this box well!

Apparently, this is one of John Wornham Penfold's distinctive hexagonal letter boxes dating back to 1866, and few remain in use in the UK today. Postboxes were originally painted green as the standard colour. Between 1866 and 1879 the hexagonal Penfold became the standard design for pillar boxes and it was during this period that red was first adopted as the standard colour. The first boxes to be painted red were in London in July 1874, although it took 10 years before nearly all the boxes had been repainted.