Two K8 Telephone Kiosks at RAF Benson

TWO K8 TELEPHONE KIOSKS AT RAF BENSON, CLAY LANE

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Overview

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II
List Entry Number:
1393996
Date first listed:
01-Oct-2010
List Entry Name:
Two K8 Telephone Kiosks at RAF Benson
Statutory Address:
TWO K8 TELEPHONE KIOSKS AT RAF BENSON, CLAY LANE
 12th Jan 2022 ©Paul Bottomley : thek6project.co.uk
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Official list entry

Heritage Category:
Listed Building
Grade:
II
List Entry Number:
1393996
Date first listed:
01-Oct-2010
List Entry Name:
Two K8 Telephone Kiosks at RAF Benson
Statutory Address 1:
TWO K8 TELEPHONE KIOSKS AT RAF BENSON, CLAY LANE

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:
TWO K8 TELEPHONE KIOSKS AT RAF BENSON, CLAY LANE

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

County:
Oxfordshire
District:
South Oxfordshire (District Authority)
Parish:
Benson
National Grid Reference:
SU 63477 90896, SU 63478 90897

Reasons for Designation

The two telephone kiosks at RAF Benson should be listed at Grade II for the following principal reason: * They are intact examples of the K8 model kiosk, an inventive Modernist adaptation of Sir Giles Gilbert Scott's classic K6 design.

Details

BENSON

565/0/10008 CLAY LANE 01-OCT-10 (West of) Two K8 telephone kiosks at RAF Benson

II Two K8 telephone kiosks, 1968 or after, designed by Bruce Martin. Cast iron and toughened glass; concrete floor.

DESCRIPTION: The two kiosks stand side by side outside the air base's shop and post office building. Each is a cast-iron box, with tall windows of toughened plate glass in the door and the two side walls. The solid rear wall, on which the telephone equipment is mounted, has a blind panel in place of a window. The upper section has slightly curved corners, and displays on all four sides glazed signage panels marked 'TELEPHONE', lit by a neon strip set into the roof. (Three panels, one on the left-hand kiosk and two on the right, have lost their original lettering.) The floor is of concrete.

HISTORY: The K8 telephone kiosk was designed in 1965-6 by the architect Bruce Martin, and emerged as the winner of a 1965 competition to produce a successor to Sir Giles Gilbert Scott's classic K6 kiosk of 1935. Production began in 1968, with around 11,000 K8s ultimately being manufactured. In contrast to the still-ubiquitous K6, only a small percentage of the later kiosks now survive in public use, although others have passed from British Telecom to private site owners.

REASON FOR DESIGNATION: The two telephone kiosks at RAF Benson are designated at Grade II for the following principal reason: * They are intact examples of the K8 model kiosk, an inventive Modernist adaptation of Sir Giles Gilbert Scott's classic K6 design.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:
507108
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 Two K8 Telephone Kiosks at RAF Benson

Map

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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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