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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

Olympic Way

Olympic Way

Wembley Stadium, then known as the Empire Stadium, was opened in 1923. Anyone arriving at Wembley Park station to visit the Stadium had to first cross a road and some railway lines, and then negoti...

Place, Gardens / Agriculture, Transport

2 memorials
Ship Successe

Ship Successe

Ship originally built as the Bradford.  Referred to 4 times in Pepys' diary.  Was in harbour from November 1658 and was paid off at a cost of £3228. Colonel John Birch and Sir Richard Browne were t...

Vehicle, Transport

1 memorial
Great Eastern Street

Great Eastern Street

Constructed 1872-6 by The Metropolitan Board of Works. Opened in 1876. Improved in 1880-2.

Place, Engineering, Transport

1 memorial
CGL Rail

CGL Rail

The City Greenwich Lewisham Rail Link PLC won the concession for the DLR extension to Lewisham.

Group, Transport

2 memorials

Previously viewed

John Bateman

John Bateman

Born near Halifax. Civil engineer. Built canals and reservoirs. Died at home, Moor Park, Farnham. Uncle to Charles La Trobe (1801-75), who travelled widely and became Governor of the colony of Vic...

Person, Engineering

1 memorial
Trustees of Borough Market

Trustees of Borough Market

Borough Market is a charitable trust, run by a board of volunteer trustees. They ensure that the activities of the market meet the trust's clearly defined responsibilities.

Group, Commerce

2 memorials
Central London Railway

Central London Railway

Railway line, known as the 'Twopenny Tube', as all tickets were sold at the price of two pre-decimal pennies. It was taken over by London Underground, becoming the Central line. See Londonist for ...

Place, Transport

1 memorial
Emily Murray

Emily Murray

Secretary & Estate Manager to Westminster Housing trust 1932 - 1951.  At Peabody Nanny Nell remembers "Miss Murray used to come and collect the rent.  She did everything. She was hard-working, ...

Person, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Admiral Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe

Admiral Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe

Naval officer.  Born London. Served in the American War of Independence and French Revolutionary Wars.  Died at home in Grafton Street.  William, 5th Viscount Howe was his younger brother.

Person, Armed Forces

1 memorial