Penfold Pillar Box outside 23 Hampstead High Street and junction with Gayton Street

Hampstead High Street, London, NW3 1QA

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Overview

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II
List Entry Number:
1378683
Date first listed:
19-Feb-1974
List Entry Name:
Penfold Pillar Box outside 23 Hampstead High Street and junction with Gayton Street
Statutory Address:
Hampstead High Street, London, NW3 1QA
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Date:
2005-02-26
Reference:
IOE01/13078/29
Rights:
© Norman Wigg. Source: Historic England Archive

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II
List Entry Number:
1378683
Date first listed:
19-Feb-1974
List Entry Name:
Penfold Pillar Box outside 23 Hampstead High Street and junction with Gayton Street
Statutory Address 1:
Hampstead High Street, London, NW3 1QA

The scope of legal protection for listed buildings

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

The scope of legal protection for listed buildings

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.

For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

Location

Statutory Address:
Hampstead High Street, London, NW3 1QA

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County:
Greater London Authority
District:
Camden (London Borough)
Parish:
Non Civil Parish
National Grid Reference:
TQ 26528 85669

Details

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 01/06/2018

TQ2685NE
798-1/27/760

CAMDEN
HAMPSTEAD HIGH STREET (North side)
Penfold pillar box outside No.23 and junction with Gayton Street

(Formerly listed as Penfold pillar box outside No.23 HAMPSTEAD HIGH STREET )

19/02/74

GV
II
Pillar box of the Penfold type, c1866-79. Cast-iron. Hexagonal plan on moulded base. Door with initial VR and moulded frame for collection times. Royal arms above the mouth flanked by words "Post" and "Office". Hexagonal domed lid with beaded cornice and foliated dome. No longer in use.

In 1914 the pillar box was damaged by militant suffragettes from the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), the group founded by Emmeline Pankhurst in 1903 which used direct actions in its campaign for votes for women. In November 1911 Emily Wilding Davison became the first suffragette to attempt to set fire to a pillar box, and over the next three years suffragettes attacked pillar boxes throughout Britain using paraffin-soaked rags, corrosive liquids, ink and incendiary bombs, in order to destroy the mail inside. Attacks were often carried out at night and the perpetrators were rarely caught. On 9 January 1914 smoke was seen coming from this box; when opened it was discovered that tar and oil had been poured in and set alight, badly damaging the contents. A message referring to suffragette prisoners was found, alluding to the culprits.

This list entry was amended in 2018 as part of the centenary commemorations of the 1918 Representation of the People Act.

Listing NGR: TQ2652885670

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:
478017
Legacy System:
LBS

Legal

This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.

Ordnance survey map of Penfold Pillar Box outside 23 Hampstead High Street and junction with Gayton Street

Map

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 07-Jun-2026 at 20:24:22.

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© Crown copyright [and database rights] 2026. OS AC0000815036. Use of this mapping is subject to Terms and Conditions.

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.

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