Kayll Road/Hylton Road, police box

Sunderland Borough Police introduced police boxes in 1920. They were designed by Chief Constable Frederick James Crawley of Newcastle. The first Sunderland boxes were placed along tram routes. There was one built into the brickwork of the curved wall on the corner of Kayll Road and Hylton Road. They were like the Newcastle boxes, four foot square, painted green, with two small square 6-light windows at the top of all four sides and a pitched black felt roof. They contained a small desk, a stool. Some were lit by electric, others had gas lamps. The telephone and first aid kit were in a compartment on the outside. The boxes were made by the carpentry shop in Binns of Newcastle for just under £13 each. In the mid 1930s the Sunderland boxes were painted blue. From 1935 a new type of police box was introduced in Sunderland and South Shields. These were similar to the Scarborough 'helter skelter' shaped boxes. The first ones were painted in the local Corporation colours (green and red) but later ones were painted light blue and cream.