K1 Telephone Kiosk, Newsholme Dean, Keighley, Bradford

Summary

K1 telephone box, most probably a Mk 235 model, designed in 1922 and built between 1922-1927, by the Office of Engineer in Chief GPO. Moved to its current location alongside the weir at Dean Beck, Newsholme Dean and re-purposed as a housing for water-flow measuring equipment in the mid-C20

Description

MATERIALS: pre-cast concrete, metal window frames and a timber door.

PLAN: the kiosk is located on the north side of the weir at Dean Beck, Newsholme Dean, and is square in plan.

EXTERIOR: the kiosk, which is constructed of rectangular pre-cast concrete sections bolted together to form a box shape, is set upon a wide concrete base and has a pyramidal roof with a cornice and topped by a ball finial. The kiosk is unpainted, but would have originally been painted white with glazing frames and the door painted in red. The rear of the kiosk is solid and panelled, with two panels to the lower part and a larger panel above, and ventilation holes at the top and bottom. The kiosk sides are similarly styled, but here the larger upper panel is a window opening with metal frames in a three-row, two-one-two light configuration; that to the right (west) side has largely lost its frame, and none of the glazing survives. Behind the kiosk is the remains of the panelled door, which is constructed of timber and would have originally had a glazing-bar configuration in the same style as the kiosk's side panels, but the glazing bars have been lost, along with most of the upper section of the door.

INTERIOR: the interior of the kiosk is plain, but the remnants of window-sill shelving survive to each side. The floor has been cutaway, presumably for the installation of water-flow equipment, which has since been removed.

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 13/01/2021 to amend a sentence in the History section.

History

The structure adjacent to the weir in the field at Newsholme Dean is believed to have been installed in around the 1960s/1970s when it was mooted that a reservoir might be constructed in the valley. It has been suggested that the structure was purpose-built in the mid-C20 as a housing for water-flow measuring equipment associated with the reservoir proposals. However, following inspection, it is clear that this is not the case and the structure is a K1 telephone box (most probably a Mk 235 model) that has been moved from its original location and re-purposed for use as a housing (equipment now removed). This was a relatively common occurrence in the mid-C20 when older telephone boxes became redundant and then were re-purposed for other uses by other utility industries; in this instance, the water industry. The kiosk at Newsholme Dean no longer (2019) contains any equipment and is disused.

The K1 Mk 234 telephone kiosk was the first national kiosk to be designed following the unification of private public telephone companies under the control of the General Post Office (GPO) in 1912. The GPO sought to standardise the combined telephone networks that it had absorbed and introduce a kiosk design that would be installed around the country. The K1 Mk 234 was designed in 1921 by the Office of Engineer in Chief GPO and introduced in the same year. Seen as a traditional design for the 1920s, only 500 were ever made and production ceased in 1922 when a newer model, the K1 Mk 235 was designed and introduced, which introduced metal windows. A further model, the K1 Mk 236 was designed and introduced in 1927, before subsequent kiosk designs came later, including the iconic K6 telephone kiosk designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. The number of K1 Mk235 telephone kiosks surviving nationally is in single figures.

Reasons for Listing

The K1 telephone box, Newsholme Dean, probably a Mk 235 model designed in 1922, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Historic interest:

* it is a rare survival of a K1 telephone kiosk, Britain's first national telephone kiosk.

Architectural interest:

* its pre-cast concrete design is an advancement on earlier timber sentry-style kiosks of the late C19 and early C20;
* its universal design brought uniformity and a strong sense of identity to a newly consolidated telephone network in the 1920s;
* despite later conversion for use in the water industry and subsequent disuse it survives well overall and its original function remains clearly readable in the physical fabric.

External Links

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