thumb|250px|right|Collection of British Pillar boxes at the Inkpen Post Box Museum, near [[Taunton, Somerset]]
A '''pillar box''' is a free-standing post box, in the United Kingdom, where mail is deposited to be collected by the Royal Mail and forwarded to the addressee. Similar designs exist as historical artefacts in certain Commonwealth of Nations countries. Pillar boxes have been in use since 1852, just 12 years after the introduction of the first adhesive postage stamps and uniform penny post. 

Mail may also be deposited in lamp boxes or wall boxes that serve the same purpose as pillar boxes but are attached to a post or set into a wall. According to the Letter Box Study Group, there are more than 150 recognised designs and varieties of pillar boxes and wall boxes, not all of which have known surviving examples. Royal Mail estimates there are over 100,000 post boxes in the United Kingdom.<ref name=bbc>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2294797.stm BBC News: Campaign to preserve red post boxes] (retrieved 23 March 2007)</ref>

==Pre-history==
Before the introduction of Pillar boxes, on the UK mainland, it was customary to take outgoing mail to the nearest letter receiving house or post office. Such houses were usually coaching inns or turnpike houses where the Royal Mail coach would stop to pick up and set down mails and passengers. People took their letters, in person, to the receiver, or postmaster, purchased a stamp (after 1840) and handed over the letter. 
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==Construction==
thumb|right|150px|Cast iron cap of a PB42/1 sits atop the carcass and is secured by bolts
thumb|left|100pix|The carcass of a George VI box being lifted from the ground. The cap and door have already been removed.
thumb|right|100px|This rare [[Edward VIII pillar box door shows the built-in posting aperture, collection plate and the Royal Cipher]]

Most traditional British Pillar boxes produced after 1905 are made of ABS plastic have been produced that do not follow these general outlines. These are for use in secure indoor locations such as supermarkets.<ref>[http://www.lbsg.org/materials-r.shtml LBSG: Materials] (retrieved 22 March 2007)</ref>

Cast iron Pillar box construction comprises three distinct main parts:

The '''cap''' sits on top of the Carcass and is usually bolted down from inside. Some designs after 1965 do not have a separate cap. Caps can also be fitted with a separate bracket, normally of cast iron, which supports a '''Post Office Direction''' sign (POD) indicating the nearest Post Office.

The '''door''' contains the aperture or posting slot. It is hinged, should display the collection plate''' showing the times of collection from that location. It is fitted with a brass security '''lock''' on the inside. The contractor for these locks has been the Chubb Locks company of London for many years. They are 5 lever locks and each one can exhibit more than 6500 combinations. Contrary to popular myth, there are no skeleton keys for these locks. Each post box has its own set of keys and postal workers have to carry large bunches with them when clearing the boxes.

The '''carcass''' or body of the box that at supports the door and cap, and may protrude substantially down below ground level. This provides security and stability to the pillar box. There is a wirework cage inside to prevent mail falling out when the door is opened, a hinged letter chute to allow mail to fall into the collecting bag or sack and a serrated hand-guard to prevent unauthorised tampering with the mail through the aperture.

==The Channel Island problem==
thumb|100px|left|VR box in [[Guernsey is the oldest in use box in Great Britain]]
The advent of the British wayside letter box can be traced to Sir Rowland Hill, Secretary of the Post Office, and his Surveyor for the Western District,and noted novelist, Anthony Trollope. Hill sent Trollope to the Channel Islands to ascertain what could be done about the problem of collecting the mails on a pair of islands. The problems identified in the Channel Islands were caused by the irregular sailing times of the Royal Mail packet boats serving the islands due to weather and tides.

Trollope subsequently arrived in Jersey in the early Spring of 1852 and proceeded to survey both islands. His recommendation back to Hill was to employ a device he may have seen in use in Paris: a “letter-receiving pillar”. It was to be made of cast iron, about 1.50 metres high, octagonal in design and painted olive green. Trollope estimated that four would be needed for Guernsey and five for Jersey. The foundry of Vaudin & Son in Jersey was commissioned to produce them and the first four were erected in David Place, New Street, Cheapside and St Clement's Road Saint Helier and bought into public use on November 23 1852. Guernsey received its first three pillar boxes on February 8 1853.

They were an instant success, despite some obvious problems with rainwater ingress. One Vaudin box still stands in Union Street, Saint Peter Port, Guernsey whilst another is in the British Postal Museum & Archive collection in London.

==The first mainland boxes==
thumb|125px|right|Early mainland John Butt box type PB1/1 in ''[[Haverfordwest Town Museum'']]
The very first boxes erected on the mainland are not recorded, but the designs varied from area to area as each District Surveyor issued their own specifications and tendered to their own chosen foundries. The earliest ones were essentially experimental, including octagonal pillars or fluted columns, vertical slits instead of horizontal ones, and other unusual features.

It is recorded in the Post Office archives that the first mainland box was erected in Botchergate, Lincoln. 1856 also saw various designs introduced in Scotland and the Midlands.

==Design problems==
The first design for London, by Grissel & Son of Hoxton Ironworks was rather stubby and rectangular, although surmounted by a decorative ball. Erected in 1855, they were replaced because people complained that they were ugly. One survived and was earmarked for preservation in the early part of the 20th century. It was unfortunately stored in a contractor's yard in London which was subject to a direct hit from a German bomb during the Blitz, thus destroying forever some important boxes. A photograph of this Grissel box together with a Giant Fluted box and a Penfold in the Contractor's yard appeared in The Letter Box by Jean Young Farrugia (see bibliography).

==Moving towards a standard design==
thumb|left|100px|1856 type PB1/viii at the West Gate, [[Warwick]]
Standardisation of sorts came in 1857 with the deliberations of the Committee for Science & Art of the Kent railway station Cork, Ireland. Also to be found only in Ireland is one of the early Mainland boxes at the National Museum of Ireland’s Collins Barracks site in Dublin. It is the sole surviving "Ashworth" box of 1855 for the Northern District, that included all of the island of Ireland.

Prior to 1859 there was no standard colour, although there is evidence that the lettering and Royal Cypher were sometimes picked out in gold. In 1859, a bronze green colour became standard until 1874. Initially it was thought that the green colour would be unobtrusive. Too unobtrusive, as it turned out - people kept walking into them. Red became the standard colour in 1874, although ten more years elapsed before every box in the UK had been repainted.

==First National Standard boxes==
thumb|100px|right|''1st National Standard'' <br><small>(small size), formerly at Sandown Rd, [[Liverpool</small>]]
thumb|100px|right|''Liverpool Special'' <small>at [[Albert Dock</small>]]

The first real standard design came in 1861 with the First National Standard box. These were also cast in two sizes for the first time to allow for heavier usage in big metropolitan areas. A number have survived across the UK, including Stoke, Worthing, London, Havant, Bristol, Congresbury, and Newport, Isle of Wight. Similar boxes have also survived in Mauritius. In the busy city of Liverpool, even these boxes could not provide the capacity and security required, so a special design was commissioned from the foundry of Cochrane Grove & Co of Dudley. Known as "Liverpool Specials", three survive from a batch of six. Two of these are in Liverpool and the other is in the BPMA collection in London. Cochrane would subsequently go on to be the foundry that made all the Penfold boxes from 1866-1879.

==Penfolds==
The most famous of the early designs is that named after the architect who designed it, Acanthus bud surmounting the cap, were originally exclusively city-based, but have now found their way into rural areas as well. About 300 were made, of which 150 survive. Nearly 100 replicas have also been installed. The New Zealand boxes are the only Penfolds to bear the cipher of King Edward VII; all others have the cipher of Queen Victoria.

<gallery>
Image:UK post office box.jpg|Penfold Type PB8/1 at King's Parade, Cambridge
Image:PB8_Dunedin.jpg|Penfold, Edward VII type, in Dunedin, New Zealand
Image:Replica Penfold.jpg|Replica Penfold, erected at Tower Bridge in 1989
Image:Brecon pillar box.jpg|Disused green Penfold PB8/1 outside Brecon Museum, Wales
Image:P6263892B.JPG|Penfold on St George's Crescent, Llandudno, Wales
Image:Singapore Replica Penfold.jpg|Replica Penfold in Singapore for collecting special Christmas Post
Image:Prince Edward Rd.jpg|A PB8/1 Penfold at Prince Edward Rd; one of six in Cheltenham
Image:Rochester Penfold.jpg|Original bronze-green livery Penfold on High St Rochester, Kent showing enamel Letters flap
Image:Nayland Penfold.jpg|Queen Victoria Coat of Arms details from Penfold at the former Neyland Railway Station, Wales
</gallery>

==Anonymous boxes==
thumb|right|100px|Spiked top version Anonymous high aperture type [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|VR box at Priory Rd Cambridge formerly adjacent to a college wall]] 

thumb|right|Sebuah jenis kotak tiang di United Kingdom.

Di UK, sebuah '''peti tiang''' (bahasa Inggeris: ''pillar box'') adalah sebuah kotak pos berdiri-bebas di mana mel diletak untuk dikumpul oleh Mel Diraja dan dikirimkan ke alamat-alamat tertentu. Reka bentuk yang mirip wujud sebagai artifak dalam sesetengah negara-negara Komanwel. Kitak tiang telah digunakan sejak 1852, hanya 12 tahun setelah pengenalan setem pos melekat pertama dan uniform penny post. 

Mel boleh diletakkan dalam kotak lampu atau kotak dinding yang berkhidmat untuk tujuan yang sama seperti kotak tiang tetapi dicantumkan ke pos atau set kepada dinding. Menurut Kumpulan Kajian Kotak Surat, ada lebih daripada 150 reka bentuk dan variasi kotak tiang dan kotak dinding, tidak semuanya ada contoh terkenal yang masih wujud. Mel Diraja menganggarkan bahawa ada lebih daripada 100,000 kotak pos di United Kingdom.<ref name=bbc>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2294797.stm BBC News: Campaign to preserve red post boxes] (retrieved 23 March 2007)</ref>

==Pra-sejarah==
Sebelum pengenalan kotak Tiang, di tanah besar UK, ia adalah kebiasaan untuk mengambil surat dihantar keluar ke rumah menerima surat atau rumah turnpike di mana kereta kuda Royal Mail akan berhenti untuk mengangkut dan meletakkan surat dan para penumpang. Orang mengambil surat mereka, pada individunya, atau ketua pos, membeli sekeping setem (setelah 1840) dan memberikan surat. 
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==Pembinaan==
thumb|right|150px|Penutup besi cast PB42/1 terletak di atap badannya dan dikawal oleh selak
thumb|left|100pix|Sebuah badan kotak George VI diangkat dari tanah. Penutup dan pintunya telah dialihkan.
thumb|right|100px|Pintu kotak tiang [[Edward VIII yang jarang dilihat ini menunjukkan aperture terbina dalam, plat kutipan dan Cipher Diraja]]

Kebanyakan kotak Tiang British dihasilkan setelah 1905 diperbuat dari cast iron dan berbentuk silinder. Bentuk lain telah digunakan; Penfold berbentuk heksagon, kotak berbentuk segi empat tepat yang tidak dibuktikan menjadi masyhur, dan yang bentuk bujur yang digunakan utamanya untuk kotak ''double aperture'' yang besar paling sering dilihat di bandar-bandar besar seperti London<ref name=bath>[http://www.bathpostalmuseum.org/postbox.html Bath Postal Museum: History of the British Postbox] (retrieved 22 March 2007)</ref> and Dublin.<ref>[http://www.lbsg.org/shapes-r.shtml LBSG: Shapes] (retrieved 22 March 2007)</ref> Tahun baru ini kotak dikilangkan dengan glass-fibre atau plastik ABS telah dihasilkan yang tidak mengikut peraturan umum ini. Ini telah digunakan di tempat-tempat sebelah dalam seperti pasar raya.<ref>[http://www.lbsg.org/materials-r.shtml LBSG: Materials] (retrieved 22 March 2007)</ref>

Pembinaan kotak Tiang cast iron terdiri dari tiga bahagian utama yang berbeza:

'''Penutup''' terletak di atas Badan dan biasanya diselak ke bawah dari dalam. Sesetengah reka bentuk setelah 1965 tidak mempunyai penutup yang terasing. Penutup-penutup juga dapat dimuatkan dengan sebuah bracket terasing, biasanya oleh cast terbaik, yang menyokong sebuah tanda '''Post Office Direction''' (POD) yang menandakan Pejabat Pos terdekat.

'''Pintu''' mengandungi aperture atau lubang alur pos. Ianya berengsel, harus memaparkan Cypher Diraja dari raja yang bertahta dan juga dimuatkan dengan sebuah '''Plat Kutipan''' menunjukkan waktu-waktu kutipan dari tempat itu. Ia dimuatkan dengan pengawalan '''kunci''' besi di bahagian dalam. Kontraktor untuk kunci-kunci ini adalah syarikat Chubb Locks London untuk beberapa tahun. Ada 5 kunci lever dan setiap satu dapat mempamerkan lebih dari 6500 kombinasi. Bertentengan dengan dongeng masyhur, tidak ada kunci tulang untuk kunci ini. Setiap kotak pos ada sepasang kuncinay tersendiri dan pekerja pos harus mengangkat sejambak besar dengan mereka ketika mengosongkan kotak. 

'''Badan''' kotak yang mendukungkan pintu dan penutup, dan boleh protrude secara cukup banyak di bawah taraf tanah. Ini memberikan kawalan dan seimbangan ke kotak tiang. Ada sangkar wirework di dalamnya untuk mencegahkan mel dari mudah terjatuh keluar apabila pintu dibuka, dan chute surat berengsel membenarkan mel untuk keluar ke dalam beg atau guni pengutip dan sebuah serrated hand-guard mencegah bajaian yang tidak dibenarkan dengan mel melalui aperture.

==Masalah Pulau Channel==
thumb|100px|left|Kotak VR di [[Guernsey adalah kotak yang terlama digunakan di Great Britain]]
Kemunculan wayside kotak surat British dapat dikesankan kembali kepada Sir Rowland Hill, seorang Setiausaha Pejabat Pos, dan Anthony Trollope, Juruukurnya untuk Western District, dan penulis novel terkenal. Hill mengutuskan Trollope ke Pulau Channel untuk memastikan apa yang dapat dilakukan mengenai masalah pengumpulan mel di pulau tersebut. Masalah yang dapat dikecamkan di Pulau Channel adalah disebabkan waktu pelayaran yang tidak tetap pada bot peket Mel Diraja mengkhidmati kepulauan disebabkan cuaca dan air pasang.

Trollope selepas itu tiba di Jersey pada awal Musim Bunga 1852 dan meneruskan pengukuran kedua-dua pulau. Saranannya balik ke Hill adalah untuk memasangkan sebuah alat yang dia mungkin telah lihat digunakan di Paris: sebuah “tiang-menerima-surat”. Ia harus diperbuat dari besi cast, sekira-kiranya ketinggian 1.50 metres, berbentuk oktagon pada reka bentuk dan dicat hijau zaitun. Trollope menganggar bahawa empat jenis tiang tersebut diperlukan untuk Guernsey dan lima untuk Jersey. Pelembur Vaudin & Son di Jersey telah ditugas untuk menghasilkan mereka dan empat pertamanya didirikan di Tempat David, Jalan New, Cheapside dan Jalan Saint Helier di St Clement dan dibawakan ke kegunaan awam pada November 23 1852. Guernsey menerima tiang tiga pertamanya pada Februari 8 1853.

Mereka adalah kemajuan yang terlanjut, mengabaikan masalah-masalah dengan kemasukan air hujan. Satu kotak Vaudin masih ladi berdiri di Jalan Union, Saint Peter Port, Guernsey sementara yang satu lagi di pengumpulan Muzium Pos British & Arkib di London.

==Kotak-kotak tanah besar pertama==
thumb|125px|right|kotak tanah besar awal John Butt box jenis PB1/1 di ''[[Haverfordwest Town Museum'']]
Kotak-kotak yang terdahulunya didirikan di tanah besar United Kingdom adalah, malangnya, tidak dirakamkan, tetapi reka bentuk berbeza dari satu daerah ke satu daerah kerana setiap Juruukur Daerah mengisukan spesifikasi dan menawar ke pilihan pelembur mereka sendiri. Kotak tiang yang terawal adalah dalam peringkat percubaan, termasuk tiang berbentuk oktogan atau tiang fluted, slit tegak daripada yang terbaring, dan ciri-ciri lain yang luar biasa.

Ia dirakamkan di arkib Pejabat Pos bahawa kotak tanah besar yang pertama telah didirikan di Botchergate, Carlisle pada 1853. Tempatnya diperingati kini dengan replika kotak Penfold. Enam kotak yang terdahulunya dipasangkan pada April 11 1855. Reka bentuk kekal yang terdahulu adalah kotak Butt yang telah dibuatkan di Gloucester untuk Daerah Barat. Mereka diletakkan di Barnes Cross, dekat Sherborne, Dorset, di dalam Hospital Britannia Royal Naval di Plymouth dan di muzium pekan Haverfordwest. Kesemuanya dibubuhkan hari bulan dari 1853-9, dengan Barnes Cross menjadi salah satu sekelompok yang kemudiannya. Kotak-kotak tiang yang tertua masih lagi berfungsi di rangkaian Mel Diraja yang berada di Framlingham di Suffolk. Pasangan ini ditubuhkan oleh Smith & Hawkes Ltd dari Birmingham pada 1856. Meraka ditempatkan di Jalan Double dan Jalan College. Tiang heksagon ketiga jenis ini berada di Gobweston di Lincolnshire dan sekarang berada di Muzium Lincolnshire Life di Lincoln. 1856 juga melihatkan pada berbagai reka bentuk yang diperkenalkan di Scotland dan di Midlands.

==Masalah Reka bentuk==
Kotak London (gabuk dan bersegi empat tepat) digantikan kerana orang mengeluh bahawa ia kelihatan buruk. Satu lagi direka bentuk oleh was replaced because people complained it was Jabatan Sains dan Kesenian, kelihatan hebat, tetapi ada lubang alurnya di atas - jadi mel rosak ketika hujan. Piawai Kotak Kebangsaan telah didedahkan pada 1859, mengecatnya hijau supaya ia tidak nampak terlalu menarikkan perhatian orang. Terlampau tidak menarik perhatian orang, yang kelihatannya adalah orang tetap berjalan terhadapnya. Merah menjadi warna piawai pada 1874.

==Bergerak ke arah suatu reka bentuk berpiawai==
thumb|left|100px|Jenis PB1/viii 1856 di West Gate, [[Warwick]]
Piawaian jenis muncul pada 1857 dengan perbincangan Committee untuk Sains dan Kesenian Kent railway station Cork, Ireland. Also to be found only in Ireland is one of the early Mainland boxes at the National Museum of Ireland’s Collins Barracks site in Dublin. It is the sole surviving "Ashworth" box of 1855 for the Northern District, that included all of the island of Ireland.

Sebelum 1859 tidak ada warna piawai, walaupun adanya bukti bahawa hurufan dan Royal Cypher telah kadangkala picked out in gold. Pada 1859, warna hijau gangsa menjadi piawai hingga 1874. Kotak tiang Piawai British telah dicat merah sejak 1874.

==Piawai kotak Kebangsaan Pertama==
thumb|100px|right|''Piawai Kebangsaan Pertama'' <br><small>(saiz kecil), terdahulunya berada di Jalan Sandown, [[Liverpool</small>]]
thumb|100px|right|''Liverpool Special'' <small>di [[Albert Dock</small>]]

Reka bentuk betul pertama bermuncul pada 1861 dengan kotak Piawai Kebangsaan Pertama. Ada juga cast dalam dua saiz untuk pertama kali untuk membenarkan kesesakan jalan yang lebih heboh di kawasan-kawasan metropolitan besar.  Hanya beberapa lagi masih kekal di sepanjang UK, termasuk  Stoke, Worthing, London, Havant, Bristol, Congresbury, dan Newport, Isle of Wight. Kotak-kotak mirip masih juga kekal di Mauritius. Di bandaraya Liverpool yang sibuk, kotak ini juga tidak dapat memberikan ruangan dan kawalan yang diperlukan, jadi suatu reka bentuk istimewa telah ditugasi dari peleburan Chochrane Grove & Co dari Dudley. Dikenali sebagai Known "Keistimewaan Liverpool", tiga yang kekal dari sekelompok enam. Dua dari ini adalah di Liverpool dan yang satu lagi di pengumpulan BPMA di London. Chochrane selepas itu tetap menjadi pelebur yang membuat semua kotak Penfold dari 1866-1879.

==Penfold==
Reka bentuk yang termasyhur dari permulaan reka bentuk adalah yang dinamakan oleh seorang arkitek yang merekanya, J W Penfold. Kotak-kotak Penfold tiba dalam tiga saiz dan semua sekali ada sembilan jenis yang berlainan. Mereka sangat tersebar, dengan pengumpulan terbesar di London dan Cheltenham. Yang lain tersebar di sepanjang England, Ireland, Acanthus bud mengatasi penutup, adalah asalnya ekslusifnya asas-bandar, tetapi sekaran mendapati jalan mereka ke kawasan luar bandar juga. Sekitar 300 dibuat, dari mana 150 masih kekal. Hampir 100 replika telah dipasang. Kotak New Zealand adalah hanya Penfolds untuk menanggung cipher King Edward VII, kesemuanya ada cipher Ratu Victoria.

<gallery>
Image:UK post office box.jpg|Penfold jenis PB8/1 di King's Parade, Cambridge
Image:PB8_Dunedin.jpg|Penfold, jenis Edward VII, di Dunedin, New Zealand
Image:Replica Penfold.jpg|Replika Penfold, didirikan di Jambatan Menara di 1989
Image:Brecon pillar box.jpg|Penfold PB8/1 hijau yang tidak lagi digunakan di luar Muzium Brecon, Wales
Image:P6263892B.jpg|Penfold di St George's Crescent, Llandudno, Wales
Image:Singapore Replica Penfold.jpg|Replika Penfold di Singapura untuk mengumpul Pos Krismas Istimewa
Image:Prince Edward Rd.jpg|Sebuah Penfold PB8/1 di Jalan Prince Edward; satu dari enam di Cheltenham
Image:Rochester Penfold.jpg|Penfold livery hijau-gangsa asal di High St Rochester, Kent menunjukkan flap Huruf-huruf enamel
Image:Nayland Penfold.jpg|Perincian Coat of Arms Ratu Victoria dari Penfold di bekas Stesen Keretapi Neyland, Wales
</gallery>

==Kotak tanpa nama==
thumb|right|100px|Versi Spiked top Tanpa nama jenis aperture tinggi kotak [[Victoria dari United Kingdom|VR di Jalan Priory Cambridge bekasnya disebelahan ke dinding kolej]] 