K6 Telephone Kiosk

This is a K6 telephone kiosk, a standardised design dating from the 1930s. Designed by Giles Gilbert Scott in 1935 for the General Post Office to commemorate King George V's Silver Jubilee, it is constructed of cast iron and painted red overall with long horizontal glazing in the door and sides. Applied crowns are situated on the top panels, and a shallow-curved roof shelters rectangular white display signs reading "TELEPHONE". The kiosk contains modernised internal equipment. It retains 69 glass windows, though three have been replaced with Perspex. The red paint is showing signs of flaking.

The K6 is situated in a hedgerow at the roadside in Nether Silton, immediately in front of a pair of Grade II listed cottages. Across the road, approximately 20 metres to the south, are the Grade II listed Church of All Saints and the Joiners Shop. The kiosk has a particularly strong visual relationship with these three listed buildings.

The K6 design evolved from Scott’s earlier K2 telephone kiosk, appearing more streamlined and economical to manufacture. Over 70,000 K6 kiosks were produced, and they represent an adaptation of architectural tradition to contemporary technological needs. Many were replaced later, but they remain a recognisable feature of the British landscape.

The kiosk is designated at Grade II for its strong visual relationship with three listed buildings and because it is a representative example within a village setting of this important 20th-century industrial design.