Pillar box, In front of 82 North Road, Belfast, County Antrim, BT5 5NL

A free-standing late 19th-century Queen Victoria cast-iron pillar box, erected in the late-Victorian period between 1887 and 1901, which stood in front of 82 North Road, Belfast. The box was mounted on the inside edge of the footpath on the west side of North Road near its junction with Newtownards Road, facing towards the road.

The pillar box was of standard cylindrical design, standing 5 feet high with measurements of 21 inches in diameter around its cap, 15½ inches around its shaft, and 17 inches around its base. It was painted in pillar box red throughout except for the base which was black. Below a shallow oversailing cap with small decorative indentations around its edge was a hooded rectangular aperture for inserting letters. To the left and right of the aperture were the words 'Post' and 'Office' in bas-relief. Below the aperture was the hinged door, with a notice plate holder above it showing collection times and the box number (BT5 216). To the top right of the holder was a small indicator tablet holder. Below the notice plate holder was the 'VR' cipher (Victoria Regina, without crown above). The door handle and lock were positioned to the right of and over the cipher. The maker's name 'Handyside & Co/ Derby & London' was cast on the front of the base.

This pillar box is of particular historical interest as it carries the cipher of the first monarch to have purpose-built pillar boxes. The presence of the 'VR' cipher indicates a date between 1887 (when this inscription was first introduced on new pillar boxes, often to celebrate Victoria's Golden Jubilee) and the Queen's death in 1901. The box was not depicted on the detailed Ordnance Survey map of 1894-96, suggesting it more likely dates from between c. 1895 and 1901. The pillar box appears to be a B-type (smaller variety), as opposed to the larger A-type.

The box was constructed by Handyside & Co, a Derby and London-based iron foundry that became one of the first firms contracted in 1879 to manufacture the new cylindrical design of pillar box. The company continued to produce pillar boxes in Britain and Ireland until the early 20th century when it closed.

The pillar box was originally located at the corner of North Road and Newtownards Road but was moved across North Road to its position in front of 82 North Road between 1954 and 1987. The original box has since been replaced with a modern type that is not of historic or architectural interest.

Pillar boxes of this era were of great social importance as a principal conduit by which people communicated with one another. Victorian-era pillar boxes are distinguished by a 'high aperture' for mail located above the door, a design that often resulted in letters becoming jammed under the cap. This was rectified in later Edwardian designs with a lowered aperture that became part of the door itself.