Elizabeth II post boxes

Contents

• Overview
• Examples
  • Wheathampstead
  • Ayot Green
  • Ayot Lodge
  • Ampthill
  • Harpenden
  • Sandridge

Overview

This page depicts examples of Elizabeth II (EIIR) post boxes in the UK. Elizabeth II reigned from 6th February 1952 to 8th September 2022. The photos were taken during my various walks.

Examples

Wheathampstead

The EIIR lamp box in Amwell Lane, Wheathampstead, taken on Coronavirus walk 176, 30/09/2023. A comment from Icanhearwhatyouresayingandtheanswerisno on Imgur regarding the first photograph below is ultimately how these post box pages came to be.

This is a Romec post box (Royal Mail Engineering & Construction, now Royal Mail Property & Facilities Solutions), manufactured in Newcastle from sheet steel instead of cast iron and found widely. The Royal Mail name is riveted on and the royal cypher is glued on, being formed from what appears to be laser-cut sheet metal. Scottish manufacturer Machan Engineering closed after Royal Mail stopped using them as a post box manufacturer.

Ayot Green

Ayot Green is a small village outside of Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire. This unusual example (post box AL6 149)—which merits more detailed photography on a future walk—is a wall box built into its very own brick column, where one might expect a standard pillar or lamp box. The photo was taken on Coronavirus walk 25, 26th September 2020.

The manufacturer is W T Allen & Co, London.

There is a similar brick column outside Cuddington Stores, Cuddington, Buckinghamshire, as seen in the Midsomer Murders episode Not In My Back Yard. In that instance it’s a GR wall box.

Ayot Lodge

This post box does not appear on Matthew Somerville’s post box map so it appears to be purely ornamental; the nearby damaged GR wall box (see the GR page) is the functional post box in that area. The manufacturer appears to be Machan, Scotland. Photos from post box hunt 1, 26/12/2023.

Ampthill

A pedestal box at the entrance of Grange Road in Ampthill, Bedfordshire. Photos taken on Coronavirus walk 187, 16/12/2023.

Large-size EIIR wall box, Ampthill, Bedfordshire, number MK45 229, manufactured by Allied Ironfounders. Photos taken on Coronavirus walk 261, 30/08/2025.

Not sure that I have been to Ampthill on a sunny day in a long time!

Harpenden

This is another example that I have walked past before without ever noticing it. A wall box built into its own brick column, at the junction between Hyde View Road and Westfield Road, Harpenden. Photos from post box hunt 4, 10/02/2024.

The manufacturer is W T Allen and Co, London.

Sandridge

A lamp box at the bottom of Langley Grove, Sandridge, Hertfordshire. Photos from post box hunt 4, 10/02/2024.

The manufacturer is Abbot Engineering of Scotland.