THEY are synonymous with British culture. A design icon which instantly marked the nation's identity to overseas visitors.

Red telephone boxes have become something of an endangered species throughout Britain. But Wroughton and Highworth could now hold the key to preserving the last of a dying breed.

A third of the 12 K8 red telephone kiosks put up in the 1960s and 1970s are still in operation in the borough and have formed the basis of a listed building application by the Twentieth Century Society.

The K8 was the last design for a telephone kiosk under Post Office ownership and its cast iron shell and long panes of glass marks it down as one of the great visual symbols of this country, according to the man trying to protect them.

Twentieth Century Society case worker Jon Wright recently visited Swindon to track down three of the 11 K8 telephone boxes that BT still has records for.

But after unearthing kiosks in Grove Hill and Knowlands in Highworth, Mr Wright was surprised to find a fourth as he made his way to track down the phone booth at the site of the old RAF hospital in Wroughton.

"I found the two in Highworth and as I got a taxi to Wroughton the taxi driver said he knew where another phone box might be," explained Mr Wright.

"It was just on a small village green past the dual carriageway into Wroughton and it is the best of the lot.

"We want to get them listed because they are the last red telephone boxes that were ever produced in cast iron by the old GPO before it became BT - this marks the end of the line for one of the greatest industrial designs of its era."

Under its previous guise of the Thirties Society, the Twentieth Century Society acquired listed building status for around 3,000 of the earlier K6 telephone kiosks and 1,000 K2 kiosks.

The K8 listed application was submitted to English Heritage yesterday and, if successful, would mean the phone boxes would have to be protected and maintained by BT and the council.

"Swindon was developed fairly heavily in the 1960s and 1970s and these kiosks were put in as part of that regeneration," said Mr Wright.

"The reason they survived is not really clear but they are in really good condition.

"Swindon should be proud that it has the last classic examples of this red telephone box.a "The Swindon telephone boxes have formed the basis of our application and if we get it, English Heritage will come to Swindon to check the four we have nominated.

"But I'm hopeful we get the listed status because as far as we are concerned, the K8s have become iconic."