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Royal Mail

Categories: Transport

Before the 2012 Olympics started the Royal Mail committed to turn a red post box gold for each British Gold medal, Olympic and Paralympic. In the event this meant that over 100 boxes turned colour. Each one is associated with a particular gold medal and has been chosen to be close to the medallist's home town/borough. Here's the map. We don't believe that the Royal Mail despatched an employee with a pot of gold paint the instant the medallist crossed the line but they have said the colour is permanent.

The Royal Mail have their own website of memorials, nationwide: https://www.royalmail.com/memorials/home .

2022: Londonist have posted (ha ha) an excellent page on postboxes

2024: We read a WW2 'Letter from London' by Mollie Panter-Downes with: "Posting a letter has acquired a new interest, too, since His Majesty's tubby scarlet pillar boxes have been done up in squares of yellow detector paint, which changes colour if there is poison gas in the air and is said to be as sensitive as a chameleon." 

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This section lists the memorials created by the subject on this page:
Royal Mail

Creations i

Anthony Trollope - pillar box - Fleet Street

5 similar plaques have been erected.

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Anthony Trollope - pillar box - Piccadilly

This plaque commemorates the bicentenary of the birth of Anthony Trollope (18...

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Anthony Trollope - pillar box - Rutland Gate

5 similar plaques have been erected.

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Anthony Trollope - pillar box - Strand

5 similar plaques have been erected.

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Charlotte Dujardin gold post box

{On plaque attached to side of box:} This post box has been painted gold by R...

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Other Subjects

Canal & River Trust

Canal & River Trust

From their website: "We're the charity who look after and bring to life 2,000 miles of waterways, because we believe that life is better by water." Canal & River Trust took over the guardiansh...

Group, Gardens / Agriculture, Transport

1 memorial
Conservators of the River Thames / Thames Conservancy

Conservators of the River Thames / Thames Conservancy

Came into being as a result of the Thames Conservancy Act,1857. Completed the building of Teddington Lock. Lost some of its responsibilities in 1909 to the Port of London Authority and in 1974 the ...

Group, Engineering, Gardens / Agriculture, Transport

3 memorials
Connex

Connex

Full name Connex South Eastern. Train operators in the south-east of England, part of a French based company. Its franchise was due to run until 2011, but the Strategic Rail Authority decided to cu...

Group, Transport

2 memorials
Sustrans

Sustrans

Charity. It encourages people to travel by foot, bike or public transport for more of the journeys they make every day. Formed in Bristol as 'Cyclebag' by a group of cyclists and environmentalists,...

Group, Transport

18 memorials
Christopher Jones

Christopher Jones

Sailor. Born Harwich, Essex (His birth year is approximate). He moved to Rotherhithe in London and became master of the Mayflower from at least 1609. The ship was usually employed in transporting g...

Person, Transport, USA

2 memorials

Previously viewed

Sarah Ann Whitehouse

Sarah Ann Whitehouse

Drowned in the 1898 HMS Albion disaster, aged 21. Buried in grave 4 at the memorial in East London Cemetery.

Person, Tragedy

1 memorial
Royalty Mansions

Royalty Mansions

Built in 1908 as flats with workrooms for tailors. It was purchased for improvement by the Soho Housing Association in 1978 and after extensive renovation work was opened in 1980. Architects: 190...

Building, Property

1 memorial
Lord Stanley of Preston

Lord Stanley of Preston

Politician and Keen sportsman. 16th Earl of Derby. Born London, second son of Prime Minister Lord Stanley. Governor General of Canada, 1888 - 1893. His sons became keen hockey players so he and his...

Person, Politics & Administration, Sport / Games, Canada

1 memorial
Olympic Games - 1948

Olympic Games - 1948

The 1948 Summer Olympics were the first Summer Olympics held since the 1936 Games in Berlin. The second time London had hosted, 1908 being the first. The 1948 Olympics came to be known as the "Aus...

Event, Sport / Games

1 memorial
Metropolitan Borough of Bethnal Green

Metropolitan Borough of Bethnal Green

Bethnal Green was formed as a civil parish from the Bethnal Green hamlet in Stepney ancient parish. 1889 it became part of the County of London. 1900 it became a metropolitan borough. 1965 it was a...

Group, Politics & Administration

7 memorials