Bruton Fifth Clause Posts (from Shepton Mallet, Shaftesbury, Wincanton)

The Shaftesbury Fifth Clause Post was set up in 1823 serving Bruton, Castle Cary and Wincanton, for mail to London and the south.  At a similar time the Shepton Mallet Fifth Clause Post was set up serving Bruton and Castle Cary, for mail to the north.  It is not thought that Wincanton came under the Shepton Mallet 5th Clause Post.

In 1830 Wincanton became a Post Town (because it was then on the post road) and started a Fifth Clause Post serving Bruton and Castle Cary for mail to London and the south, replacing the Shaftesbury 5th Clause Post.

The following sheets show examples of Bruton in (a) the Shaftesbury 5th Clause Post, (b) the Shepton Mallet 5th Clause Post, and (c) the Wincanton 5th Clause Post.

 

Cross Penny Post

The Cross Penny Post came into being in 1827 as a result of the establishment of a mail coach from Bristol to Bridgwater. Cross itself was only a tiny place but it was at a point where the new coach road was crossed by a minor road from Axbridge to Weston-super-Mare. It was made a Post Town and issued with an undated circular name stamp. By extending the Wells-Axbridge ride to Cross and then northwards through Sidcot to Banwell it could join the existing ride to Weston as shown below.

Cross took over the existing Bristol Receiving Houses at Hutton, Uphill, Weston and Worle and also those of Wells at Axbridge and Cheddar. In addition two Foot Messengers were appointed, one going through Stone Allerton, Stoughton Cross, Wedmore and Blackford to Mark and the other through Weare, Badgworth, Biddesham, Rooks Bridge and East Brent to South Brent, Receiving houses being established at Wedmore and South Brent.

Axbridge had the "No.1" Receiving House mark (see earlier post). Here's an example of the "Crofs / Penny Post" cancel with the "No.2" Receiving House mark of Weston-super-Mare.

The 1841 entire below is addressed from Lympsham and cancelled with a boxed "No.9" Receiving House mark.

Axbridge

Axbridge had a Fifth Clause Post from Bristol in 1805, then transferred to the Wells Penny Post in 1816.  Here's an example of the boxed "No.5" cancel from 1823.

In 1827 it became part of the newly established Cross Penny Post.  The example below, with a boxed "No.1" cancel, is from 1830.

An "AXBRIDGE" straight line cancel carried on in use until 1849.  The examples above are of the second type (40x4 mm) while the one below is of the third type (36x4 mm).

Finally a single-ring cancel from 1903 on a postcard showing a view of the centre of Axbridge.

Commercial Advertising Slogans

The Post Office changed its attitude to commercial slogans in the mid-1980s but companies did not respond in large numbers despite attempts by the GPO to market slogan advertising.

Part of this could be to do with the (lack of) quality of the Post Office cancels.

 

 

Local Bath slogan cancellations .... Publicity (5)

Not all the Slogans were to promote tourism in Bath.

The Samaritans used both general and local slogan cancels.

Bath and Wells have historical connections. 

Local Bath slogan cancellations .... Publicity (4)

By the 1990s use of local slogan cancels was all but dying out.

Local Bath slogan cancellations .... Publicity (3)

Local Bath slogan cancellations .... Publicity (2)

Local Bath slogan cancellations .... Publicity (1)

From the mid 1960s until the early 1990s there were a series of local publicity slogan cancels used in Bath.  The peak of these was during the 1960s and 1970s, with usage dropping off rapidly from 1975.
This and the next few posts show examples of these slogans.