They were once a vital part of communities in Scotland and a connection to the rest of the world - midwives were called for, loved ones contacted and emergency services alerted.

Today, the red phone boxes have positioned themselves across Scotland's landscapes as a piece of its architectural heritage despite their original use dwindling in importance year on year.

Scotland's oldest phone box in Rhynd, Perth and Kinross, was installed between 1929 and 1935 and is now the only working K3 model in Scotland.

Over eight decades later, this Sir Giles Gilbert Scott design with its distinctive red and white look has stood for 12 months without one person placing a single call from the box.

It is not alone in this statistic. Of the 4800 public telephones BT operates in Scotland, 1100 of them traditional red phone boxes, not a single call was made from 707 of these in the last 12 months.

BT says this number is likely to be higher when taking into account recent increased maintenance on remote payphones which required engineers to make test calls from kiosks.

In fact, when looking at the number of boxes where fewer than five calls have been made in the last 12 months, the figure rises to 1280 across Scotland.

Mapped: The unused payphones in Scotland in last 12 months

In the map above, red markers indicate the traditional red phone boxes while the blue markers represent the more modern models.

Reinventing the red boxes

As mobile phones continue to diminish the need for public phones, the uses for these boxes - which each cost BT around £310 a year to maintain - continue to be adapted.

In the mid-1980s, BT sold thousands of red phone boxes at public auctions. Then, in 2012, the company started selling off the surplus red phone boxes.

An Adopt a Kiosk scheme was also introduced in 2008 after local councils and communities expressed attachment to the iconic red boxes, and this allowed people to buy a kiosk with the payphone removed for £1.

In Scotland, there are now 155 phone boxes that have been adopted with their uses ranging from defibrillator kiosks in Argyll to little libraries in Thurso and mini art galleries in Edinburgh.

Such reinvention will help keep the boxes relevant, says Neil Scoresby, head of BT Payphones.

"The expansion of the mobile telephone network will make an increasing number of our boxes redundant," he says.

"We've worked hard to keep our payphones relevant and put them to new uses such as sites for mobile cells and ATMs, internet hubs and advertising.

"We'll continue to keep a network of payphones in place for essential use and we're enjoying seeing many of our old, unused boxes take on a new lease of life when they're adopted by their local community.

"The scheme means communities can keep a local landmark that may have outlived its original purpose but now has the chance of a new role in local life."

Dialling back

The story of the phone box can be dated back to around 1884 when rules were relaxed and telephone companies were permitted to set up call offices and telephone stations for public use, which in turn enabled the development of a national system.

Initially found indoors, they soon began appearing in places like shops and train stations in wooden kiosks.

The UK telephone network when it was effectively nationalised in 1912 but the First World War stalled development and it wasn't until 1921 that Britain's first standard kiosk was introduced.

The future

In the last 12 months, more than 1.12 million calls were made from public telephones across Scotland, with the most commonly used phone boxes in Glasgow.

While the number of people using payphones is on a steady yearly decline of 21%, the humble payphones won't be quite disappearing from our streets any time soon with the communication company saying they have a commitment to keep boxes in certain places across Scotland, especially in parts of the Scottish islands where there's no mobile signal.

Ofcom rules are also still in place, with BT only able to remove a payphone if there is an alternative kiosk within 400 metres or where a local authority has approved a removal following consultation.

"We understand that people still see the local phone box as a potential lifeline, especially in an emergency situation," Neil says.

"We have a duty to provide a network of working phone boxes where they are most needed. We have to balance that with the commercial reality of a network where the number of calls made is falling by 21% each year and almost 70% of phone boxes in Scotland don't pay their way.

"We're constantly reviewing use of our phone boxes and have been steadily reducing the numbers since 2002 as the use of mobile phones has grown exponentially.

"We expect to continue to reduce the number of payphones for the foreseeable future, but we'll only do this in line with our obligation to consult with the relevant local authority where there isn't a nearby alternative."