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The blue 'police box' next to the town hall


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!

There used to be one built into the wall of the Infirmary on Montgomery Terrace Road.

We used to call them coppers dens. :rolleyes:

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Also kept in the boxes were white gloves and long elasticated arm bands for point duty. Before these they used to wear long white coats I believe. I remember watching coppers on point duty. It was a real skill. Do I also remember there being a little podium kept in there to stand on, or am I imagining that bit?

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Guest badwolf

Ok, lets pretend that this police box is a real TARDIS which we can borrow for the day. At which point in Sheffield's history would you visit? I would choose the morning after the night of the Sheffield Blitz and have a wander around the city centre.

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Also kept in the boxes were white gloves and long elasticated arm bands for point duty. Before these they used to wear long white coats I believe. I remember watching coppers on point duty. It was a real skill. Do I also remember there being a little podium kept in there to stand on, or am I imagining that bit?

I don't know about a podium kept in the box, but didn't the one on point duty at Coles Corner stand in a box, or is time catching up with me?

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picturesheffield

And it looks like he's done a runner on this one, along with Cole Brothers ..

picturesheffield

On a walk 'down town' in the 50s you would see four point-duty policeman, - Town Hall square, Coles corner, top of Angel street and top of Commercial street. Trams, buses, cars, lorries and pedestrians all over the place but very few 'bumps'.

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The police call boxes all had a little hinged door to the left of the entrance door which could be opened in emergency, I think by breaking a little glass panel to release the key. Members of the public could then reach inside and use the phone to summon emergency help. I think some of the boxes in outlying districts also had "facilities" for the use of the beat policeman. The one on Rivelin Valley Road between the paddling pool and Hollins Lane Bridge certainly had a 4 inch drain running out the back. On the top of the boxes was a blue lamp which could be switched on from a control room to alert the beat-bobby that he was required.

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The police call boxes all had a little hinged door to the left of the entrance door which could be opened in emergency, I think by breaking a little glass panel to release the key. Members of the public could then reach inside and use the phone to summon emergency help.

Now you mention it hilldweller,

I also remember that little door that gave acces to a phone,

think the chain to the key could be seen through the glass.

I think some of the boxes in outlying districts also had "facilities" for the use of the beat policeman. The one on Rivelin Valley Road between the paddling pool and Hollins Lane Bridge certainly had a 4 inch drain running out the back. On the top of the boxes was a blue lamp which could be switched on from a control room to alert the beat-bobby that he was required.

That Seems strange.

never thought there would have been a shortage of bushes, walls and undergrowth on Rivelin Valley Road,

wonder where that drain pipe discharged ?

lol

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That Seems strange.

never thought there would have been a shortage of bushes, walls and undergrowth on Rivelin Valley Road,

wonder where that drain pipe discharged ?

lol

Motoring past the bottom of Hollins Lane this afternoon when I suddenly remembered the old police box and the "facilities" question. Pulled the car up and parked and had a look over the wall. The stonework base for the box is still standing, just, and right to the side of it is an inspection cover to a manhole that is so positioned that it must have served the box. What started me off on this subject was that as a little lad I remember spotting a roll of Bronco through the open door, I wondered what it was for !

'So it seems that our bobbies must have been well provided for in those distant times.

Now, who can provide evidence of a police box with a jacuzzi !

HD

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I wonder what the story to that is..

It sticks in my mind mostly because as a kid I thought it was Doctor Who's tardis !!

But in later life it's still there (I think !) and would be good to know the story of it

Not in Sheffield but may be of interest. W/E.

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Not in Sheffield but may be of interest. W/E.

Also not in Sheffield but also may be of interest.

Where has Dr. Who abandoned this tardis?

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Crich museum

Got the location Steve, - but as the tardis is a time machine (like a clock or a watch ;-) ) the next question is WHEN did he abandon the tardis at Crich?

As I don't know the answer to that (not being a time lord) I will accept the year I took the pivture as an answer.

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Found a pic of the town hall one !!

The original was blue !!

Outside the Town Hall, stands one of the last of 120 old-fashioned Police Boxes.

Better known in recent times as the transport of the television fictional character, ' Doctor Who ', this piece of police history no longer has it's original blue livery.......

If it was originally blue then it must have been a very long time ago. I don't remember Sheffield police boxes being anything but green and white. In the mid sixties there used to be one on Buchanan Road at Parson Cross, and that was definitely green and white. I remember as a child wondering why it was the wrong colour, because I thought that all police boxes should be blue, like Dr Who's Tardis!

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Guest Alan Dennis

Hahaha!!! So did I!!!

(I still do)

It's still there (or was the last time I conciously looked) - I've always wanted to go inside it, see what it was like inside a Police Box, but it was always locked up.

Someone once told me (don't know how true it was) that it was placed there during the miners strike so Police could be permenantly stationed where the strike was?

It was there in the '40s, as I stood by it on the VE celebrations at the end of the war. ( Alan B.)

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It was there in the '40s, as I stood by it on the VE celebrations at the end of the war. ( Alan B.)

But is James refering to the miners strike which became the General Strike in 1926 rather than any more recent miners dispute in the 1970's (3 day weeks and power cuts) or in the 1980's (the battle of Orgreave) <_<

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Guest plain talker

Got the location Steve, - but as the tardis is a time machine (like a clock or a watch ;-) ) the next question is WHEN did he abandon the tardis at Crich?

As I don't know the answer to that (not being a time lord) I will accept the year I took the pivture as an answer.

Fifteen years in the future, next-Tuesday, If I know the doctor!

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Fifteen years in the future, next-Tuesday, If I know the doctor!

OK plaintalker,

I will go and take that picture you have just looked at on the 9th March 2025 lol

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