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Exhibition area 1 - police box and pillars
Inside the "Tardis" police box
Exhibition area 1 - K7, KX100, and Booth 7A
Exhibition area 1 - Mercury cabinet
Exhibition area 1 - K8, roadside assistance boxes and K6
Exhibition area 2 - K4, K5, K3, K1 Mk 236 and K2
Exhibition area 3 - K6s and K1 Mk 235
Inside the unit automatic exchange 13 (UAX13)
Inside the telephone exchange electronic 2 (TXE2)
This shows the main exhibition area at Avoncroft. Near the house you can see two police pillars and a police box-or "Tardis".
Police boxes and pillars first started appearing on the UK streets in the late 1920s, providing a telephone to allow policemen on the beat to keep in touch with the local station. They continued to be used into the 1960s when policemen started to be equipped with radios.
The red and blue pillars are made of cast iron, and would have contained a telephone as well as a separate lockable cupboard, to hold useful items like first aid kits. The blue pillar also held a spare cape for the constable on the beat.