Telecom Street Cover & Cabinet Design Heritage

When you walk down a street, you are walking over a complicated entanglement of wires and pipes that deliver our critical utilities, one of which is the UK’s telecommunications system. It provides us with telephone and broadband services, which have become the foundation of the digital age.

Much of our telecoms infrastructure is underground and many will walk over without realising its existence; however, some features are visible and offer clues about how the system has developed during the last 180 years.

This guide documents British telecoms heritage as and when we discover it during our journeys through Great Britain. We are slowly working our way up to providing a comprehensive guide organised into the following categories.

Telecoms heritage categories

Telecom street covers

Telecom cabinets

Telecom marking posts

FAQs

What is telecoms heritage?

Telecoms heritage refers to legacy objects, features, and equipment from previous eras of telecommunications.

Why does telecoms heritage deserve recognition?

Much telecoms heritage has disappeared as the system and Britain’s urban landscape have developed during the last 180 years. The UK was a global pioneer of telecommunications including the world’s first public telegraph company and sending the first SMS.

A brief history of the UK telecommunications system

The UK telecommunications system grew out of a network of wires established by the first telegraph companies in the 1840s. These privately owned telegraph networks were nationalised in 1868 and control was transferred to the General Post Office (GPO) in 1870. The GPO started to licence private telephone service providers from 1881. The National Telephone Company (NTC) became the largest service provider after buying a series of small local companies over a period of 30 years culminating in the nationalisation of the telephone network in 1911.

The GPO took control of the NTC in 1912 and retained a monopoly on the provision of telecommunication services (with the exception of Kingston upon Hull) until it was changed from a department of state to a statutory corporation in 1969 and renamed the Post Office in an effort to improve operational efficiency.

The Post Office Telecommunications division was responsible for the monopoly of services until it was separated and renamed British Telecom in 1980. British Telecom’s monopoly was broken in 1982 when a licence was granted to Mercury Communications.

British Telecom was then transformed into a public limited company in 1984 with 50.2% of its shares offered for sale. The UK government gradually sold its shares over a period of 13 years. British Telecom was renamed BT in 1991 and is still the largest provider of fixed-line, broadband, and mobile services in the UK.

Telecom street covers

What is a telecom street cover?

Telecom street covers are typically manufactured from concrete and cast iron or steel. They protect pedestrians and vehicles from falling into holes used as infrastructure access points. There are two types of cover:

Joint box covers – Covers boxes integrated into footways or carriageways containing cable joints. The covers essentially are box lids providing access once lifted. Joint boxes are mostly located between exchanges and cabinets, and between cabinets and distribution points.
Manhole covers – Covers manholes leading to cables and controls in spaces or tunnels deeper underground. These deep spaces are generally located in the centre of towns and cities. They are not commonly constructed today due to the risks of working underground including the dangers of gas.

Footway Covers

We start with one of the earliest telecoms covers produced for the National Telephone Company (NTC), which was the largest private service provider before it was nationalised and taken over by the General Post Office (GPO) in 1912.

NTC, No. 1

Cover – Single
Materials – Cast iron frame with concrete centre

We now detail covers that were produced after the General Post Office (GPO) became a national monopoly of UK telephone services in 1912.

Larger joint box covers are heavier and located in urban centres, housing areas, and rural settlements. The early cast iron framed concrete variants are based on the original cover designs of the National Telephone Company (NTC).

Channels, Joint Box No. 2

Cover – Single
Materials – Cast iron frame with concrete centre
Approx dimension – 38 x 80 cm

Channels, Joint Box No. 4

Cover – Single
Materials – Cast iron frame with concrete centre
Approx dimension – 55 x 100 cm

Channels, Joint Box No. 6

Cover – Pair
Materials – Cast iron frame with concrete centre
Approx dimension – 70 x 70 cm

Some covers contain a ventilation grille in the centre.

Channels, Joint Box covers were renamed Frames & Covers, Footway in the mid 1960s. They also have single covers, and are located in urban centres, housing areas, and rural settlements.

Frames & Covers, Footway No. 2

Cover – Single
Materials – Steel frame with concrete cover
Approx dimension – 34 x 80 cm

Frames & Covers, Footway No. 4

Cover – Single
Materials – Steel frame with concrete cover
Approx dimension – 55 x 100 cm

Earlier models contain a cast iron marking plate with later models using plastic.

**Cast iron marking plate**
General Post Office
1969

Frames & Covers, Footway No. 5

Type – Single
Materials – Steel frame with concrete cover
Approx dimension – 68 x 68 cm

Covers a manhole.

Frames & Covers, Footway No. 6

Type – Pair
Materials – Steel frame with concrete cover
Approx dimension – 41 x 61 cm

Earlier models contain a cast iron marking plate with later models using plastic.

Frames & Covers, Footway No. 10

Type – Triplet
Materials – Steel frame with concrete cover and cast iron marking plate
Approx dimension – 80 x 80 cm

Frames & Covers, Footway No. 11

Cover – Triplet
Materials – Steel frame with concrete cover and cast iron marking plate
Approx dimension – 140 x 47 cm

Covers for joint boxes built into footways. The smallest boxes contain customer connections and are designed to withstand pedestrian and light vehicular loading only. They are commonly found in housing areas.

Box, Joint No. 22

Cover – Single
Materials – Reinforced concrete
Approx dimension – 41 x 61 cm

Box, Joint No. 23

Cover – Single
Materials – Cast iron cover & reinforced concrete frame
Approx dimension – 24 x 50 cm

Driveway Covers

Introduced in 1982 as an improved cover for traffic conditions that do not justify the use of heavy duty frames and covers. Driveway covers are lighter and less expensive.

Frames & Covers, Driveway No. 4

Cover – Single
Approx dimension – 55 x 100 cm

Some covers were made as replacements for Joint Box No. 2 frames with lid casing made from steel bar tread.

**Replacement lid for Joint Box No. 2 frame**
British Telecom
1985

Carriageway Covers

Covers for larger joint boxes built into carriageways. They are extremely heavy to accommodate the weight of vehicles passing over.

Frames, Jointing Pit No. 2

Cover – Single
Materials – Cast iron frame originally with wooden blocks set into the cover. Wooden blocks have been replaced by concrete or tarmac.

Frames & Covers, Carriageway No. 1

Cover – Single
Materials – Cast iron frame and cover
Approx dimension – 68 x 68 cm

Made of a cast iron, one of the few designs that is not a quadrilateral polygon.

Frames & Covers, Carriageway No. 2

Cover – Dual
Materials – Steel frame and cover
Approx dimension – 68.5 x 122 cm

T-shaped keys covering fibreglass boxes.

Elkington Covers

Elkington Gatic produced a range of covers and frames using a portcullis-styled frame design, made from cast iron. The frame cells are commonly filled with asphalt or concrete. This design is referred to as ‘Elkington’ and these covers are found in footways and carriageways.

Covers & Frames, Unit Type

Type – Single, Dual & Triple
Materials – Cast iron frame with asphalt centre

The single covers are used for carriageway & footway manhole shafts. The dual and triple covers are used for joint boxes. Each cover has four bolts that are opened by D-shaped Keys, Joint Box No. 2.

Covers & Frames, Elkington Gatic

Type – Single & Dual
Materials – Cast iron frame with asphalt or concrete centre

Unit Type covers are found in carriageways and footways. The single covers are used for carriageway & footway manhole shafts. The dual and triple covers are used for and Has four bolts per cover that are opened by D-shaped Keys, Joint Box No. 2.

Telecom cabinets

What is a telecom cabinet?

Telecom cabinets contain incoming telephone cables from the exchange and act as a control panel for all outgoing cables that run to customer distribution points. These cabinets are referred to as Primary Connection Points (PCP) and commonly painted dark green.

Early models were made out of cast iron with panelled doors. Some cast iron cabinets contain replacement doors made of steel. Later models were made from fibreglass. All cabinets use triangular Openreach keys arranged in duets or quartets.

Cross Connection No. 1

Cross Connection No. 2

GPO models contain unique internal square notches around the top lock.

Cast Iron – General Post Office
c. 1912-1969

Cast Iron – Post Office Telephones
c. 1969-1981

Cast Iron – British Telecom
c. 1981-1991

Cross Connection No. 3

Cast Iron & Steel General Post Office
c. 1912-1969

Fibreglass – British Telecom
c. 1981-1991

Telecom marking posts

What is a telecom marking post?

Telecom marking posts mark the location of buried cable joints. They contain numerals detailing the horizontal distance of the cable joint from the post. Early posts were made of cast iron before transitioning to concrete. The early cast iron posts had their numerals removed during World War II as a precautionary measure amid fears of an enemy invasion.

Post, Cast Iron