More Post-Boxes

 Must have walked or driven by this one dozens of times, before I started noticing post boxes and this is more modern than others I've photographed.

It's in Eye, a large village/small town not far away and is probably standing outside of what once was the Post Office ( before my time in this area) which is now inside a small newsagent/ general store in another road.

Thanks to my book I can tell you this is a 'K' type dating from 1980 and is very common. It was a completely new design at the time.

Learning something new everyday!

Then there is the post box that was happily used by the villagers in Bacton for years and years, in the side of the building that was the post office in the 1960's and  "the little shop" when we lived in the village in the 80's and even after the shop closed the post box remained until 2020, when new people moved into the house and "people posting letters and the postman emptying the box disturbed them". So Royal Mail were obliged to stop using it and block it up and the owners painted it black.

 

After a wait of over a year a new post box was installed in another place in the village just before last Christmas.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

Another Old Post Box

 Finally, weeks after my other Post Box posts, (Which are Here) I got to Bawdsey to take a photo of a very special postbox. This is the only known survivor of the Ludlow wall boxes with the cipher of Edward VIII.

Edward VIII was only king for a few months before abdicating so only 161 postboxes of any type with ER VIII were made. Ludlow boxes - named after it's Birmingham manufacturer were made specifically for sub-post offices in rural areas. They started production in 1885 and closed in 1965.

The building this is in is no longer a sub-post office or even a shop. Bawdsey is a small village at the end of the road before the river Deben and is better know for Bawdsey Manor, the home of the development of Radar during WWII. 

The Wolf Moon was huge and the sky was clear last night.The photo is taken from my front path, just after 5pm, far enough away from the front door to make the (annoying) security light go off.

I've taken photos of the full moon before when I was at Clay Cottage, and I'd love to know why my camera takes better photos of the moon than it does churches, views or  flowers in the back garden!

 

Back Tomorrow

Sue

More Post Boxes

 Continuing on my search for different post boxes............

This one is from Diss in Norfolk outside a Post Office that is still a Post Office - a rare thing nowadays when they are more often shoved in the back of a shop.

Dual Aperture pillar boxes were first introduced  in1899 to separate 'town' and 'country letters in London. This one below is much more modern but would have originally had a label to say 'Local' above one slot and 'Other Areas' above the other. 

I assume that mechanization in sorting and automatic recognition of post-codes means that there is no longer a need for post to be pre-sorted.

 

 Also in Diss.............. this is a very modern plastic or fibreglass post box. These are made for standing out of the weather often in Supermarkets, shopping centres, airports or hospitals. This is in the entrance way at Morrisons.

 

Many thanks for all the comments yesterday - all interesting.

 

 

Back Tomorrow

Sue

One of the Ten Oldest........................

.........Post Boxes in the country.

This is beside a busy road junction in Framlingham which is a town between me and the coast. I've driven past 100's of times but never walked out from the town centre car park for a closer look.

 

It gets a mention in my little book Old Letter Boxes by Martin Robinson.It was made in 1856 by Andrew Handyside of Derby for the Post Office's Eastern District.

1856 is just four years after the very first letter boxes were erected in the Channel Islands.

 

Early postboxes all had vertical apertures. In the book this postbox still has a white metal collection times plaque  on the front but that has now gone. The letter box seems to be still in use.

I should have asked in the Post Office if it was still used but I've only just thought of it! Framlingham is one of the few places that still has a proper Post Office where they still also sort local mail for picking up and delivering in the area.

I'll have to wait for the fuel situation to resolve before I go and search for the other very old letter box still in use in the County.

Back Tomorrow

Sue

PS Must say welcome to two more people who have clicked the follower button. It was 705 for ages so I'm pleased to see it's now 707. Hope you like reading my wafflings from Suffolk

 

Another Post-box Post

The mystery of the hooded postbox................

This appeared in the village where BiL lives over 2 years ago. No one had asked for another postbox in the village, no one knew why it had been put there.

It's in a very bad spot, just as cars come out of the Village Hall car-park, blocking the view up the road.

The Parish Council asked Royal Mail why it had been installed there. They said they didn't know!

It's sat there covered like this ever since.

?????????????????????

 

 (Thank you for all the comments about the Elderberry Syrup yesterday. I have no idea if it really helps against colds but it tastes good and certainly can't do any harm and Betty's comment about scientific investigation into the efficacy of Elderberries was interesting to know)

 

Back Tomorrow 

Sue

More About Postboxes

 Back in August I wrote a post about Post-Boxes after finding a book of postcard that I'd forgotten about.

 

I said I could feel a new hobby starting so of course it needed a book!

 It's one of the small Shire books and quite concise with lots of photos. The chapter headings are Victorian pillar boxes, Twentieth-century pillar boxes, Wall letter boxes, Ludlow letter boxes, Lamp letter boxes and Miscellaneous letter boxes.

 

 I'm starting with some photos that were already on my blog from my journeys around my old village.

This one below is in the village and built into what was the village Post Office. Long since closed. It is a Wall letter box and dates from the time of George 5th. Wall letter boxes predate  Lamp Letter boxes The first ones had no hood over the aperture but they were changed when the rain got in.

 

This one below is at the end of the lane where I lived. From the book I now know this is a Lamp Letter box  so called because they were originally made to fix to the new lamp posts that had started to appear as public gas lighting was introduced in C19. They are the most common type in country areas where the amount of post is small. The first Lamp letter box was made in 1896  and this one below comes from the reign of George V. It has the words LETTERS ONLY over the slot. . It had a much needed coat of paint in 2019.

 

The one below in another part of my old village is also called a Lamp Letter-box even though it's just on a pole.  These were modernised after WWII with bigger slots than the one above and the word POST OFFICE instead. It's much more modern with EIIR as the cypher.

 

That's my first look at Post/Letter boxes ...........I will be back with more............you've been warned!

Back Tomorrow

Sue

 

The History of The Post Box

 When I was sorting out the chest of drawers in the crafting half of my bedroom I re-found this book of postcards all about Post Boxes.

I've had it for ages, from a car boot sale probably.

 

The first pages in the book of postcards tell the story of the post box

 

 

 

 Some of the postcards feature commemorative postage stamps from 2002. Had a look to see which ones of the set I had - but just two out of the 5 which were issued. (Many years ago we trimmed stamps for a charity and I have a good collection up to the year 2000 which is when the charity stopped delivering and picking up) after that I have very few and rarely see any commemorative stamps on my post now.

other postcards are copies of old posters.

 

 "Post Early For Christmas" isn't a new plea - the copy of a poster below is from 1961      

 

and even further  back in 1945 they were still asking the same thing

The Post Box below featured quite often as my header as it was at the other end of the lane from the cottage. It was a very annoying letter box with a slot marked "letters only" and there was literally no space to get anything in that was bigger than postcard size. Birthday cards and Christmas cards needed a bike ride down the road for a mile and a half to one with a bigger slot.

 

 

My nearest post box now.....plenty of room to post all sorts and just 200 yards away from home

One of the 10 oldest post boxes in the country is in Suffolk. I go past it when driving to visit youngest daughter and one of the few  Edward VIII post boxes is also in Suffolk.

I feel a new hobby starting.........................watch this space!

Back Tomorrow

Sue