K6 telephone kiosk at Cold Ashby
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1441748
- Date first listed:
- 12-Dec-2016
- List Entry Name:
- K6 telephone kiosk at Cold Ashby
Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1441748
- Date first listed:
- 12-Dec-2016
- List Entry Name:
- K6 telephone kiosk at Cold Ashby
- Location Description:
- PCO Kiosk 740211,
Main Street,
Cold Ashby,
Northampton,
NN6 6EL
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.
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.
Location
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- West Northamptonshire (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Cold Ashby
- National Grid Reference:
- SP6549076426
Summary
K6 telephone kiosk, designed 1935, located on the north side of Main Street.
Reasons for Designation
The K6 telephone kiosk in Cold Ashby is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Design/Aesthetic interest: The K6 is an iconic C20 industrial design by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott;
* Group value: the telephone kiosk holds a strong group value with the Old Forge and its attached house, listed at Grade II.
* Setting: the telephone kiosk stands within the historic village of Cold Ashby, and within the setting of the scheduled remains of the monastic grange east of Manor Farm.
History
The K6 telephone kiosk is a milestone of C20 industrial design. The K6 was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott in 1935 for the General Post Office, on the occasion of King George V's Silver Jubilee. The K6 was a development from his earlier highly successful K2 telephone kiosk design of 1924, of Neo-classical inspiration. The K6 was more streamlined aesthetically, more compact and more cost-effective to mass produce. Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (1880-1960) was one of the most important of modern British architects; his many celebrated commissions include the Anglican cathedral of Liverpool and Battersea power station. The K2 and K6 telephone kiosks can be said to represent a very thoughtful adaptation of architectural tradition to contemporary technological requirements. Well over 70,000 K6s were eventually produced. In the 1960s many were replaced with a new kiosk type. But many still remain, and continue to be an iconic feature on Britain's streetscapes.
The 1975 Ordnance Survey map shows a public telephone box (TCB or Telephone Call Box) at the triangular grass island on the north side of Main Street in Cold Ashby, close to the former village post office (not listed).
Details
The K6 is a standardised design made of cast iron, painted red overall with long horizontal glazing in the door and sides and with the crowns situated on the top panels being applied not perforated. There are rectangular white display signs, reading TELEPHONE beneath the shallow-curved roof. It has modernised internal equipment. The telephone kiosk’s display signs above the doors are faded and discoloured, and the red paint is flaking in many places. It retains glass windows.
The telephone kiosk stands in a prominent location on a grass island, on the north side of Main Street, close to the former village post office (not listed). It is approximately 25m south-west of the scheduled remains of a monastic grange east of Manor Farm, and 25m north-west of the Old Forge (listed at grade II).
INTERIOR: Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 it is declared that the modern telecommunications equipment within the K6 is not of special architectural or historic interest.
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
The listed building(s) is/are shown coloured blue on the attached map. Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’), structures attached to or within the curtilage of the listed building (save those coloured blue on the map) are not to be treated as part of the listed building for the purposes of the Act.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 05-Jun-2026 at 16:00:28.
Download a full scale map (PDF)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.