Category Archives: Police

Bells, Churches, Coffee Houses, Executions, Food and Drink, Police, QandA, Tangential Topics, Telecommunications

Unanswered Questions

From time to time I am asked a question which I think is worth mentioning – or sometimes where I actually don’t know the answer! Here are some of these. If anybody can offer answers then please leave a comment. See also Answered Questions,

Why are the City colours black and red?

Why do the City of London bollards have 8 stars?

When the Newgate Execution bell was rung, why was it 12 times?

Why were dishes used instead of cups in the coffee houses?

What was in the bottom compartment of a police call post?

Why did the Lombardis (City Goldsmiths) have long beards?

What does the contemporary Pickwick Club do?

How much did spectacles cost in the 1670s?

Why does scraping metal from a bell lower its tone?

Was St Paul’s Shadwell rebuilt in its original style?

Where exactly was the News International print works?

Were there many churches in Limehouse?

Why is St Anne’s, Limehouse so big?

What is served at an Execution Breakfast?
This relates to the Magpie and Stump pub which stands on the street called Old Bailey opposite what was once the site of public executions. The landlord made a nice earning by providing guests with a first floor room where they could watch the action at the gallows whilst enjoying an Execution Breakfast.

ANSWERED

Please also see Answered Questions.

1900s, Police, Telecommunications

Police call posts

The standard UK police box was the one exemplified by the Doctor Who “Tardis”. This had a phone in an outside compartment for use by the public and the inside was a miniature police station where a copper could fill in reports, grab a meal break or even deploy as a cell to detain a suspect until assistance arrived.

These weren’t used in The City because they were too big.

Instead the “call posts” were used.

They had an unlocked compartment for the phone which the public could use to contact the police in event of an emergency. Below was a locked compartment containing a first aid kit.

The red light on the top was to notify a constable on the beat that there was a call from the station.

First introduced in 1907 there were 50 in the City and the last one did not go out of service until 1988 – which is interesting chronologically as it was 3 years after the introduction of the first London mobile phone network.

Eight survive and they are grade 2 listed structures!

  • Aldgate, outside St Botolph’s Church
  • Friday Street, at the corner of Queen Victoria Street
  • Guildhall Yard, off Gresham Street
  • Liverpool Street, east side
  • Old Broad Street, by Adam’s Court
  • St Martin’s le Grand, by the entrance to Postman’s Park
  • Victoria Embankment, south side, close to the City boundary dragons
  • Walbrook, close to the Mansion House