Yeovil - Some Postcards

A few views of Yeovil on postcard to finish up with.

In 1888 a cheese and butter marketing company came to Yeovil and in 1901 it adopted the name St Ivel. These postcards advertise the St. Ivel brand.  The St Ivel factory closed in 1976.

Yeovil Commemorative Cancels

Here a a few special commemorative cancels used at Yeovil.  Yeovil has RNAS Yeovilton nearby, one of the Royal Navy’s two principal air bases, and one of the busiest military airfields in the UK, which explains the relevance of the first commemorative cancel.

Yeovil Slogan Cancels

Here are a few Yeovil Slogan cancellations, the first with a card from the Postmaster at Yeovil explaining that the slogan cancel arrived later than planned so the first date of use was delayed.

 Secondly a slogan for the Countryside Code with an inverted town die.

 And lastly a series of uses of a slogan cancel for the Lions (an international charity formed in the USA in 1917).

Yeovil Miscellany

A miscellany of Yeovil items now, firstly a couple of sheets of Yeovil "929" triangular cancels (used to identify printed paper rate post that conformed to regulations).

 Then an item of Official Post Office mail.

And finally a purple "TO PAY" cachet from 1981.

Yeovil Obliterator, Duplexes and a First Day Cover

Yeovil was Post Office number "929.  Here's an example of the 3-bar numeric obliterator from 1846.

And then examples of three different duplex cancels from 1870, 1888 and lastly 1884.

 And lastly a philatelic Registered item from 1937 that is also a First Day Cover for the G VI 1½ brown.

Bristol ...

Yes I know I said when I posted up a few items on the Bristol Post:
"... I don't think I'm going to make a habit of this as Bristol's Postal History is enough of a subject to warrant collecting by itself !"
but I've weakened.

I was successful in the the recent Cavendish Auction on 31st May on a few Bristol-related lots.  My rationale at the time was that Bristol's post extended significantly into North Somerset, but I'm afraid that at some time in the future this Blog is going to see a number of Bristol-related posts.

You have been warned !

Yeovil Penny Post

The Yeovil Penny Post was authorised in 1828.  Here is a map showing the local mail walks, rides and coaches.

Receiving House handstamps are recorded from Stoke (No.2), West Coker (No.3), Haselbury (No.4) and Preston (No.6).  No.1 is thought to be Montacute and No.5 was probably East Croker but never used.

Here are a couple of examples of the "Yeovil / Py. Post" and "No.4" handstamps from 1832 and 1833.

Yeovil

The Yeovil boxed mileage handstamp was altered so that the mileage just had lines above and below (and the line below was weak).  Here's an example from 1823 with contents relating to claiming an army pension.

The mileage mark was followed by a dated double-arc handstamp - the example below from 1838 was charged 8d for 50-80 miles.  One has to stretch the post route to Salisbury to get the charged rate - any ideas on a better route for this item ?

Yeovil - More boxed mileage marks

A couple more examples of the Yeovil boxed mileage handstamp, the first with some marginally interesting contents.  It is an Official entire from 1817 that received a Yeovil handstamp because is was missent to Yeovil rather than to Paulton, which before 1841 came under Bath.

The contents are a demand for Tax payable on an Estate.

 The second example is also from 1817.  It was from Yeovil to Weymouth, a distance of about 35 miles.  It was charged 8d, the rate for 50-80 miles presumably because the mail took a more indirect route, either via Sherborne and Blandford Forum (just over 50 miles) or via Poole (just over 60 miles).

Technology makes working out the approximate mileages quite easy;  Google Maps, for example, allows one to get directions from A to B and tells one the distance. One can then correct the route, firstly to avoid motorways (!) and then to go along the probable post routes of the time to get an approximate distance by using modern road routes.

Yeovil - Introduction

Here's a description of yeovil according to Pigot's 1844 Directory of Somerset.

And here's a map from the 1st Ordnance Survey, from 1886-1901.

I don't have any of the earlier Yeovil handstamps, the first is straight-line handstamp from 1766, then two more straight line handstamps of slightly different sizes (BCC rarity Z), followed by an early single-line mileage mark and another straight line handstamp.

Then we get to the more common mileage marks, here's an example of the boxed mileage handstamp from 1803.

I must apologise for the terminology in the write-ups, they come from fairly early in my Postal History education - where the write-ups say "cancel" please read "handstamp" as the marks do not "cancel" anything.  I now try to only use "cancel" when the postmark is cancelling a stamp or is a machine-cancel rather than a handstamp.