Small Doors of Britain
The national catalogue of small doors: doors found in trees, skirting boards, retaining walls, and public buildings, which are too small for any resident of the building, and for which no other explanation has been recorded. The catalogue exists because the sightings archive kept receiving door reports and something had to be done with them. It currently records 27 doors; the full index is below. Entries for which the survey photographs have been checked (Doors 3, 7A, 12, 41B and 88) have fuller notes further down the page. The remaining photographs are checked as volunteer time allows.
The catalogue records doors. It does not record what is behind them. Surveyors are instructed not to knock and not to open.
Catalogue index
Gaps in the numbering are historical: the catalogue inherited its references from an older card index, and numbers are not reissued. Heights are measured to the top of the frame where one is present.
| Ref. | Location | County | Height | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Door 3 | Public library, ground floor (local history section) | Lancashire | 9.7 cm | Active* |
| Door 5 | Stone barn, gable end | Cumbria | 8.9 cm | Inactive |
| Door 7A | Tea room, skirting board (window table) | Cornwall | 10.4 cm | Inactive |
| Door 9 | Church porch, north wall | Devon | 10.1 cm | Inactive |
| Door 11 | Oast house (demolished 2008) | Kent | 9.4 cm | Removed |
| Door 12 | Beech tree, base, north side | North Yorkshire | 12.1 cm | Active* |
| Door 14 | Public house cellar, third step | Somerset | 10.8 cm | Inactive |
| Door 17 | Disused mill, ground floor | Norfolk | 9.9 cm | Inactive |
| Door 19 | Retaining wall, canal towpath | West Yorkshire | 11.6 cm | Inactive |
| Door 22 | Park shelter, rear panel | Merseyside | 10.2 cm | Inactive |
| Door 23 | Fence post, bridleway | Hampshire | 8.4 cm | Inactive |
| Door 26 | Skirting board, private house (reported by owner) | Wiltshire | 9.6 cm | Inactive |
| Door 29 | Slate wall, field boundary | Gwynedd | 10.5 cm | Inactive |
| Door 31 | Bridge abutment, east side | Shropshire | 11.9 cm | Inactive |
| Door 34 | Field barn, threshold | Northumberland | 9.2 cm | Inactive |
| Door 37 | Sea wall, below promenade | Co. Antrim | 10.7 cm | Under review |
| Door 41B | Retaining wall, lane side | Gloucestershire | 11.2 cm | Inactive |
| Door 44 | Chapel vestry, under window | Powys | 9.8 cm | Inactive |
| Door 47 | Bothy, east wall | Highland | 11.3 cm | Inactive |
| Door 53 | Hedge bank (lost in flailing, 2014) | Cornwall | 8.8 cm | Removed |
| Door 61 | Boathouse, water side | Cumbria | 10.0 cm | Inactive |
| Door 66 | Mill race, spillway wall | West Yorkshire | 9.5 cm | Inactive |
| Door 71 | Orchard store, brick course | Kent | 10.3 cm | Inactive |
| Door 74 | Hedge, holloway | Devon | 9.0 cm | Inactive |
| Door 79 | Kirkyard wall, west gate | Fife | 10.6 cm | Inactive |
| Door 83 | Staithe, upright timber | Norfolk | 11.0 cm | Inactive |
| Door 88 | Harbour wall, above high-water mark | Fife | 10.9 cm | Under review |
* "Active" records only that the door's condition changes between surveys (fresh paint, cleared leaves, seasonal wreath). The catalogue makes no claim as to agency. See the status definitions.
Entry details
Door 3 — Lancashire
- Height
- 9.7 cm
- Material
- Oak veneer over softwood.
- Letterbox
- No.
- Status
- Active. The door was repainted between the 2019 and 2022 surveys, and a small wreath appears on it each December. Library staff are aware of the door and say it predates the current shelving (installed 1994). Who places the wreath has not been established.
Door 7A — Cornwall
- Height
- 10.4 cm
- Material
- Painted pine.
- Letterbox
- Yes; the only fully compliant letterbox in the catalogue.
- Status
- Inactive since 2011. The tea room changed hands in 2016; the new owners retained the door.
- Notes
- Numbered 7A because the original index card records a second, smaller door (7) behind the counter. The 2003 survey could not locate it, and the card gives no measurements. The number remains allocated.
Door 12 — North Yorkshire
- Height
- 12.1 cm
- Material
- Weathered hardwood; possibly elm.
- Letterbox
- No.
- Status
- Active. Leaf litter is cleared from the threshold between autumn surveys; the clearing agent has not been established.
- Notes
- The tree is subject to a preservation order (1987); the door appears in a photograph dated 1962 held by the parish council. The frame has not distorted as the tree has grown, which the 2018 surveyor noted as unusual and the 2021 surveyor did not.
Door 41B — Gloucestershire
- Height
- 11.2 cm
- Material
- The 2006 surveyor recorded "wood"; the 2011 surveyor recorded "composition board, weathered". Neither surveyor tested the material, as testing is not permitted under the survey protocol. Both descriptions are retained.
- Letterbox
- Yes; noncompliant. Aperture is 9 mm below the height specified in the catalogue's guidance.
- Status
- Inactive since 2013.
- Planning
- No application on record. Local council denies responsibility for the door, the wall, and, in the later correspondence, awareness of the wall.
- Notes
- Door was not present during the 2002 survey. It was present, weathered as if by decades, during the 2006 survey. The catalogue records this without comment, though the surveyor's comment survives in the margin, initialled C.G., and is briefer than the protocol prefers.
Door 88 — Fife
- Height
- 10.9 cm
- Material
- Marine plywood, repainted at intervals.
- Letterbox
- No.
- Status
- Under review. The harbour wall was repointed in 2024; the door was absent during the works and present again by the spring survey, repainted, approximately 40 cm east of its recorded position.
- Notes
- The review will decide whether this is the same door for numbering purposes. The contractors were asked whether the door had been removed and refitted as part of the works; their reply dealt with the repointing.
Status definitions
- Active — condition changes observed between surveys.
- Inactive — no changes across two or more surveys.
- Under review — the door's circumstances have changed (rebuilding, repainting of the host structure, coastal weather) and its file is being re-verified.
- Removed — the door is no longer present. Removed doors keep their numbers. The catalogue does not reissue numbers.
Reporting a door
Door reports are accepted in principle even while sighting reports are suspended, doors being stationary and therefore easier on the volunteers. However, as correspondence is answered slowly, finders are advised to photograph the door, note its height, material, and letterbox arrangements, and hold the record until intake resumes. Do not post anything through the letterbox.