post box

Freestanding cast-iron pillar box erected c.1895. Circular profile with domed cap, moulded corona, neck moulding, cylindrical shaft and moulded plinth. Raised lettering, 'Post and 'Office', to neck flanking letter aperture. Curved hinged door facing west incorporating raised frame and raised royal insignia of Queen Victoria. Raised lettering to west side of plinth base 'Handyside & Co. Ltd. / Derby & London’. Set in concrete on recent paving. Located at east side of north Prussia Street, south of junction with North Circular Road.

This well preserved example of a Victorian pillar box is a reminder of the final decades of British rule in Ireland. The first cylindrical pillar boxes were introduced in 1879, but the earliest cylindrical pillar boxes did not have the royal cipher, an oversight rectified from 1887 onwards. This bears the royal cipher of Queen Victoria, 'VR', for 'Victoria Regina'. On gaining independence from Britain in 1922 the post boxes were repainted green instead of their earlier red. Still in active use, this cast-iron post box is a well-manufactured piece of street furniture that enhances the streetscape. Handyside & Co. had the Post Office contract to make pillar boxes for the UK and Ireland from 1878 to 1933 (1931-3 known as Derby Castings). This pillar box appears to have been moved from elsewhere as it does not appear on the 1907 Ordnance Survey map and is currently located on the east side of Prussia Street south of the junction with North Circular Road. It may have been relocated from Annamoe Road to the north of Hanlon's Corner, following redevelopment of that junction, where a letter box was indicated as 'L.B' on the 1907 map. A 'Type A' or larger diameter pillar box, such boxes were intended for busy urban areas with large volumes of post.