GC24PAQ K6 - Red Lion, Chelmsford (Traditional Cache) in Eastern England, United Kingdom created by Cloggers

This cache has been archived.

Cloggers: So sad to see this one archived. The upmarket eatery that the good old Red Lion has become has a poncey al-fresco drinking area on what was the pub forecourt, making access to the K6, and hence the cache, impossible. Mind you, it does mean that the telephone kiosk should stay in good repair. I'll try to find a suitable place for a replacement in the area soon.

GC24PAQ ▼

A cache by Cloggers Message this owner

Hidden : 3/7/2010

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

A K6 cache in Chelmsford

The concept of listed buildings was introduced during World War II as a way of determining which buildings should be rebuilt if they were damaged by bombing. The 1947 Town and Country Planning Act led to the compilation of the first list of buildings of special historical or architectural importance. While researching for a cache (that I never got around to placing) I was surprised to learn that Essex has 79 listed ‘Kiosk type No.6’ telephone boxes.

Sir Giles Gilbert Scott was asked by the General Post Office to design a new kiosk for mass production in March 1935 and the K6 went into manufacture a year later.

K6, also known as the Jubilee Kiosk commemorating the Silver Jubilee of George V, was the first telephone kiosk to be used extensively outside London. Some 70,000 were installed in virtually every town and city between 1936 and 1968, replacing most of the existing kiosks and establishing thousands of new sites.

At the time of writing the Red Lion K6 is in an awful condition; a shrub from the neighbouring garden is pushing through the joints between the lower and upper castings and the handset is smashed. There is really very little else to say about this sad-looking kiosk, but the area in which it stands was once a hive of industry.

Colonel R.E.B. Crompton came to Chelmsford in 1876 as a partner in the firm of T.H.P. Dennis in Anchor Street. He became interested in electric arc lighting and by 1878 took over the Anchor Street site to form Crompton & Co Electrical Engineers. Progress was rapid and the company became one of the leading electrical manufacturers in the UK, counting among their satisfied London clients Buckingham Palace, the Law Courts and King’s Cross station. Crompton installed electric street lights around the town centre to celebrate the incorporation of the Borough of Chelmsford in 1888, making Chelmsford one of the earliest towns to receive electric street lighting. There is a commemorative blue plaque at Devon House in Anchor Street.

Thomas Clarkson founded Clarkson Ltd in 1902 in the original Crompton factory after it had moved to a new site in Writtle Road. His first steam bus went into service in 1903 and in 1909 he formed the National Steam Car Co which, by 1914, had 184 steam buses. The last Clarkson bus ran in London in 1919 and in Chelmsford in 1920.

If anyone would like to add to our K6 caches (English Heritage has 2129 listed K6 kiosks – they can be found by searching for “K6” at (visit link) would you kindly send Cloggers an email so we can see if and how they're progressing.

If a particular listed kiosk seems to be in very bad condition you can bring it to the attention of the local council's Conservation Officer who has legal powers to force repair works to be carried out to prevent further decay.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

fghpx gb gur onpx, jnvfg uvtu, ebnq fvqr

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)