Somerton TARDIS

Lore & Background

Police boxes were deployed in the UK as a police telephone communications point before public telephone boxes were widely available. Patrolling police officers or members of the public could contact the local police station using the telephone accessed via an external flap. Internally, the box was a miniature police station. The Somerton police box has a lamp fixing on top which would flash to indicate an incoming call. The first UK police boxes were deployed in 1888; the familiar 'TARDIS' shape first appeared in 1929. UK police discontinued use of such boxes by 1969 with the advent of police personal radios for mobile communications.

Reader's Guide

The Somerton TARDIS gained significance as a local landmark and a cultural reference to Doctor Who, in which the Doctor's time machine appears as a police box due to its so-called 'chameleon circuit' being stuck. During the 1980s local residents painted a long multi-coloured scarf on the blue police box as worn by the Fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker from 1974 to 1981. The box deteriorated over the years, largely due to concrete cancer. In January 2010 a grant of £10,500 was allocated by Cadw to restore the structure as a recognition of its importance as a local landmark. Cadw's listing record locates the box at the junction with Hawthorn Avenue but notes that this 'varies through time and space.' Its legacy endures as a rare surviving example of a once-common British police box, preserved through community and fan interest.

Did You Know?

• The Somerton police box is the only remaining one of four that were in Newport.
• Cadw's listing record notes the box's location 'varies through time and space.'