ABOUT

History

The iconic red telephone kiosk is a K6 public telephone kiosk, designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott to commemorate the Silver Jubilee of the coronation of King George V in 1935. The bas-relief crown on the telephone is a Tudor Crown. From 1953 onwards, the crowns on the K6 kiosks were a representation of the St Edwards's crown, the crown used for coronations, or in Scotland, the Crown of Scotland was added to kiosks.

Many thanks to Martin Carter for these old photos of Ashton Keynes in the 1930s and 1950s. Can you spot the telephone box?

The telephone box is on the other side of the village hall, next to George Jones' garage and petrol pumps. Looking at the photograph taken in the 1930s, it could a K2 telephone kiosk and perhaps not the K6 one in the village now

A snowy day in the 1930s

High Road in the 1950s with the telephone box where it is now

Adopt a Kiosk 

Public payphones became underused with the rapid growth of mobile phone usage and, under the BT Adopt a Kiosk scheme, Ashton Keynes Parish Council adopted the iconic K6 telephone kiosk and saved it for posterity.

Restoration

The Parish Council allocated funds to renovate it and Russell Blackaller, a Parish Councillor, led a team of volunteers from the village to restore the telephone box to its former glory and to install a solar charged light.  He then co-ordinated for proposals for its use and at the Parish Council meeting in January 2022, the proposal submitted by Kathryn Gray, a local community artist, to use the telephone box as a mini gallery was accepted.