Electricity Junction Box on Castle Street, Manchester

This early 20th-century electricity junction box was manufactured by Hardy and Padmore of Worcester for Manchester City Council. It stands within the Castlefield Conservation Area, as part of the public realm works associated with the partially-reconstructed Grocers’ Warehouse and close to other listed buildings and similar junction boxes along the canal basin.

The box is constructed of cast iron. Its longer sides, which face east and west, are doors with moulded surrounds. Each door has two decorative strap hinges on the right-hand side and a Jacobean-style geometric strapwork relief framing a detachable plaque displaying the crest of the City of Manchester. The two shorter sides are plain, with moulded edges, and each features a circular relief reading 'Hardy & Padmore Limited, Worcester'. A raised banner displaying the registered design number is on the north side; the south side is largely hidden by a wall. The box is painted black. It has a low pyramidal cap with castellated edges, supported at each corner by an inward-scrolled corbel, above a moulded cornice.