After calls to save Wellington's last remaining phone box, we take a look back at the history of telephony in the town.

In 1876 F. Scott Haddon installed a telephone link between his shop on the High Street, and the Wellington Weekly offices, which were at that time located at 3 South Street.

The first telephone which was able to make outside calls was installed in 1881.

A telephone exchange, which allowed paying subscribers to call one another, was installed in the town in 1901. It initially had six subscribers, four of whom were members of the Fox family.

By 1956 the exchange had 800 subscribers, and by 1980 there were 3,485 subscribers to the service.

Today there is a single red telephone box remaining in the town, which lacks a phone and has fallen into disrepair.

But there are a number of telephone boxes in the surrounding area which live on as book exchanges, cared for and maintained by their communities - as in Sampford Arundel and on Ford Street.

Information courtesy of Colin Spackman of the Wellington Museum and History Society.