You see them at elegant terraces and squares. To me they are almost “Iconic” of London.
During the second world war most of them were removed to be used in the war effort. As it turned out, the authorities had overestimated the need for iron or some administrator had fouled up. I have read stories about them being dumped at some lonely coastal area. In my latest search on the net I found, that many were dumped in the Thames estuary in such quantities that Tugs had to be used to navigate, as the huge quantities of cast iron threw the magnetic compasses out. whatever happened to them, they are back again in all there glory and together with, the now rare red telephone booths, say welcome to London.