Banstead Village

I can tell you a bit more about the "lighting pillar box". In fact, street lighting was its secondary use, the lower section (with two doors on opposite sides) contained an electrical transformer to provide power to the local area. There were also two more doors above, one gave access to the high voltage fuses and the other side the low voltage (240 volt) distribution fuses.
The high voltage (2,000 volts) was supplied from Sutton (the old power station site being next to the railway station on the south side of the tracks). When the power station closed, 11KV/2KV transformers were installed here to provide the 2KV supply needed for distribution. (33KV was supplied from Croydon Power Station to Sutton where it was transformed down to 11KV).

Thank you for solving the mystery of the "green box" that I remembered as a child; I have scoured the internet to find out what it was used for. As a small child it appeared larger!! We used to have one on the corner of our road in Cheam.

The Victoria
15th December 1930: “The Chairman submitted correspondence from the County Divisional Surveyor stating that the Surrey C.C. had sanctioned the placing of a Kiosk for electric lighting purposes on the island in front of the Victoria Hotel. The Chairman informed the Council that he had agreed to such Kiosk being painted in aluminium, & had suggested that directions signs should be placed above the Kiosk. Resolved that the Chairman’s action in this matter be approved.”


There followed a couple of months where the layout of the “islands” and signage at the Victoria junction were discussed so the kiosk probably doesn’t appear until Spring 1931.

Source of Information : Banstead Parish Council minutes researched by James Crouch. June 2019

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