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The blue 'police box' next to the town hall


Sheffield History

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Hes going to do them this week.

He sought permission to see if he can take one of the inside so long as nothing of importance was showing.

They said yus.

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Hes going to do them this week.

He sought permission to see if he can take one of the inside so long as nothing of importance was showing.

They said yus.

I was once shooting in a police control room (no names no pack drill) and great care was taken to ensure that nothing sensitive appeared on screen. Months after the programme had gone to the client I was reviewing it with students and I noticed something we'd all missed. In a big close up of someone dialing on a push button telephone I noticed one of the quick dial buttons simply said 'BATPHONE'. Watching the fingers distracted you enough to miss it even after repeated showings.

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Hes going to do them this week.

He sought permission to see if he can take one of the inside so long as nothing of importance was showing.

They said yus.

How fantastic - and much appreciated

Tell him we love him !!!

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Guest J R Wrigley

I wonder what the story to that is..

Is there anybody out there who remembers P.C. Judd? It was his job to keep the traffic moving in what is now called Town Hall Square. It was his police box that now stands as a protected building at the top of Surrey Street. Before 1960 when the trams finished there was an island opposite the Town Hall where passengers could board their tram. It was also a very congested area even when there were far fewer trams than today. Just think - there was Surrey Street, Pinstone Street, Barker's Pool, Leopold Street and Fargate all meeting there with no one way traffic. It needed a bobby with character and presence to sort it all out. To add to all that there were trams coming and going to and from Pinstone Street and Fargate. P.C. Judd was the man and should things get overwhelming he could pop into his police box and ask for assistance. I suppose too, in slack times he could eat his sandwiches and drink from his flask. When I was a student teacher back in the late 1940s P.C. Judd's son was a student there. Possibly he still lives in Sheffield - if so and he reads this - let us know a bit about your old dad.

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Guest tsavo

A very responsible and public position. Wonder if he ever made sergant? They were real policemen in those days, unhampered by political correctness or laws that seems to favour the wrongdoer.

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Is there anybody out there who remembers P.C. Judd? It was his job to keep the traffic moving in what is now called Town Hall Square. It was his police box that now stands as a protected building at the top of Surrey Street. Before 1960 when the trams finished there was an island opposite the Town Hall where passengers could board their tram. It was also a very congested area even when there were far fewer trams than today. Just think - there was Surrey Street, Pinstone Street, Barker's Pool, Leopold Street and Fargate all meeting there with no one way traffic. It needed a bobby with character and presence to sort it all out. To add to all that there were trams coming and going to and from Pinstone Street and Fargate. P.C. Judd was the man and should things get overwhelming he could pop into his police box and ask for assistance. I suppose too, in slack times he could eat his sandwiches and drink from his flask. When I was a student teacher back in the late 1940s P.C. Judd's son was a student there. Possibly he still lives in Sheffield - if so and he reads this - let us know a bit about your old dad.

In your book "The Sheffield Camera" you have a picture of a traffic policeman in front of the Cathedral. Would that be the same man?

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Sorry for the quality but here'a policeman directing traffic in Castle Square (right where the hole in the road used to be) and as you can see it was not just road traffic but trams too !

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Guest wisewoodowl

I've been inside that box.

I was arrested after a school Speech Day at the City Hall and taken to that box in 1973 :angry:

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I know this is not strictly about the box itself but here's a shot I took from outside the box last year.....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v390/hjdary/P1028977.jpg

On the subject of Police boxes...Me and my son went to Crich a while back and he was drooling over the "Tardis" type box there. One of the staff came over and seeing he was interested he asked if my las wood like a look inside.

The look of dissapointment on his face, when he saw it was just a small white box and not a all like the one Dr Who drives was a picture.

The tram driver there giggled..."they all do that"

Also I was suprised to learn that it is made from concrete not wood as I thought. It (the one at Crich) came from the metropolitan police in London, who years ago had trouble with thier wooden boxes been set on fire so they came up with the concrete box.

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Guest Rachy

looking at the box from Fargate

Looking at box from Surrey Street

Inside the box

Looking across to Yorkshire Bank

Looking across to Fargate

thanks to South Yorkshire Police for the permission to take the pics.

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ha ha ha ha !!!!!!

That...

is a BRILLIANT piece of work !!!

I bet NOBODY has seen those kind of pics from there before !

FANTASTIC !

Thanks Rachy - pass my thanks onto your dad - he's a hero and I owe him a beer for that one

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Pah. It's NOT a Tardis.

That's another Sheffield childhood illusion shattered. Just like when I saw the real size of the fish in the Hole in the Road tank through the door.

Super pics Rachy - and unique - Thank you. ;-)

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Inside West Bar Station, on the staircase between floors, there is (or was last time I was there 2/3 years ago) a framed photograph on the wall of one of Sheffield's very first Police Women standing outside the Town Hall Box - can't remember the date of it though I'm afraid. I don't think the Fitzalan Square box has been gone all that long - only within the past 10 years or so I think.

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These police boxes were all over the country. they were a way of contacting policemen on their beat. There would be a blue light over the door which would flash to tell them to contact the police station. They were also a way for the public to contact the police in an emergency by using the phone on the outside of the box

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Guest plain talker

oh, wow! I hadn't seen the police box pictures. They are fantastic.

I especially love getting a "doctors' -eye-view" out of the tardis! lol

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Guest Tigershark

The telephone you can see used to be accessed via the little door on the front of the box but it kept getting stolen hence now why its on the inside. Talking about the Police, West Bar Police Station has been sold and will be raised to the ground. Another treasured memory consigned to Sheffield History.

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I remember my Grandad who was an ex-policeman telling me about the boxes.

When he started working for the Police in the 1950s, each policeman used to have a specific route to walk every night to check all factories and businesses were locked up for the night. The routes were miles long, and took up all of their 12 hour shifts. The Police boxes were placed at strategic 'checkpoints' on their route where they were expected to 'phone their station to report they'd reached that point and were moving on. So, they were basically there to make sure no one was slacking off!

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