AA Sentry Box 817 Beadnell

If you were lucky enough to have a car at the start of the 20th century for tootling around the Northumberland coast and countryside, you still had the worry that it might break down and not be able to get home.

The Automobile Association (or AA we know it) was founded in 1905, but as mobile phones and GPS were still a canny few years away, they needed a way to help their members.

So in 1912, the AA started to roll out these AA Sentry Boxes which were dotted around the country. At the time cars were seen as a luxury, so there weren't too many on the road.

The box would house a patrolman who was ready to assist with any car troubles you had. But they didn't just offer roadside assistance, they could also dish out directions and first aid too.

Here is box 362 in Pebble Hill, Betchworth, Surrey. Photo courtesy of the AA.

The door on the boxes would have been split horizontally, opening independently to create a little kiosk. Each box also had a unique number so the AA could easily dispatch their patrolmen. This Beadnell AA Sentry Box has the number 817.

By the start of the second world war, the AA had rolled out more than 600 boxes and by 1962 there was a list of 862 boxes. The numbers run up to 925, but we're not sure if there were just breaks in the series or whether some just weren't constructed.

As the number of cars on the roads increased and technology advanced, the sentry boxes were no longer housed by a patrolman, but were fitted with a telephone instead.

Each member of the AA was given a key to the sentry box to get access to the telephone if they needed assistance and a vehicle technician would pop and out see you, like they do today.

After 1968 the AA started to decommission their sentry boxes, as since the turn of the 21st century, everyone and their granny had a mobile phone.

Only 19 of these fab AA Sentry Boxes remain with eight of which are Grade II listed buildings. This one in Beadnell is still in great condition, but tucked away in the trees, so keep your eyes peeled.