Little did I realise when I took this photo that my subject was one of only about 20 of the original 1866 Victorian Penfold post boxes still surviving the ravages of time and humans in Britain and that, amazingly, eight of those 20 can be found in Cheltenham.
The Penfold name is a nod to their designer John Wornham Penfold (1828-1909), whose rather fancy hexagonal post box, complete with decorative beading and acanthus leaves, replaced the original plain round post boxes that first came into use in the early 1860s.
Penfold's design, with only minor changes, continued to be used until 1879 when round boxes returned to fashion.
My photo shows the box in Lansdown Road; the others can be seen, and more information read in an article from the BBC news website 'Cheltenham's "rare"' Penfold post boxes', 20 July 2013.
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