Penfold Post Boxes - Cheltenham

 After wandering around Cheltenham for a few months I started to notice some interestingly shaped post boxes. One day after walking past this post box pictured below, I decided to look up the royal cypher and find out more information. This led me down a rabbit hole of interesting post box facts that I feel I need to share.

(Evesham Rd)

This post box style is called a Penfold pillar box and dates back to 1886. The royal cypher is of Queen Victoria. Cheltenham is home to eight original Penfold post boxes, and there are only around 20 left across the UK. They are also Grade II listed in Cheltenham.

These post boxes have a hexagonal shape with a decorated cast iron top, and were designed by architect J.W Penfold.

(Bayshill Road)

This post box on Bayshill Road has its original enamel flap.

(Lansdown Rd)

      (Collage Lawn)

This post box on Collage Lawn is not the original. In June 2017 a reversing lorry hit and knocked over the original post box, splitting it in two. The Lansdown Place Penfold post box was then removed to create a mould that would be used to replace the one destroyed at Collage Lawn in 2018.

(Montpellier Walk)

This Penfold is the only one missing its top decorative ornament. 

(Corner of Douro Rd and Malvern Place)

      (Hewlett Road)

(St Paul's Road)

This post box can be found outside a Chinese takeaway which use to be a post office. Unfortunately, this one has some graffiti.  

There was a 9th Penfold post box in Cheltenham on Queen's Road, but it was removed in the 1970s. It is now in storage at Cheltenham's Art Gallery and Museum. 

One other post box from Cheltenham that I want to point out, isn't a Penfold, but happens to not have a Royal Cypher, which is a rare sight.

Sources:

BBC Article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-23354673

Gloucestershire Live: https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/news/cheltenham-news/one-cheltenhams-rare-victorian-postboxes-1204988

Cheltenham.Gov: https://www.cheltenham.gov.uk/info/52/conservation/862/listed_and_locally_indexed_buildings

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