VR Pillar Box Plymouth: The Square - PL1 Out of use

This box is the earliest surviving Victorian pillar box still in situ in the UK and this style was manufactured between 1854 and 1856.  The oldest working pillar box in UK can be found at Barnes Cross, near Sherborne in Dorset and was manufactured between 1856 and 1859. 

This octagonal box was manufactured by John M Butt & Company of Gloucester when roadside pillar boxes were first introduced. It has a vertical letter aperture which officials originally thought would prove harder to steal from. 

This box was seen by Neil on 22 September 2025.