Wells Receiving House "No.1" - Wookey

Wells Penny Post had a number of receiving houses, one of the most common being the boxed "No.1" receiving house at Wookey which had plenty of mail from the Bishop of Norwich. Here is an example from 1822 that has been franked "H. Norwich".  This allowed the mail to go free in the General Post but was still liable to the Wells Penny Post charge.

This second example from 1823 appears to be part of the same correspondence.

This third exampe from December 1832 is not from the Bishop and has been prepaid 11d, 1d for the Wells Penny Post plus 10d for the General Post from Wells to London.

Wells Mileage Marks

Wells had a series of mileage marks, six in all according to the British County Catalogue.  Here are examples of three of them, starting with an example of the "WELLS-S / 129" handstamp from 1807.

Next is an example of the "WELLS / 129" handstamp from 1812.

And finally an example of the "WELLS S / 129" handstamp from 1819.

Early Wells

The next couple of sheets show examples of an early Wells handstamp - the handstamp only appears as an albino strike, ie. without ink, so is hard to see (& doubly hard to see on a scan).  This first example is dated October 1716 inside the entire ...

 ... while this second example is undated.  It shows two fairly clear strikes at top and bottom of the cover, these actually being the same handstamp when the paper is refolded.

This next cover from September 1765 has an example of another early handstamp, this time with ink.  The cover also has an example of the "B / RIS / TOL" handstamp, used as a transit mark.

UDCs #5 - Stokes Croft (B), Street, Weare, West Pennard

Bringing this small collection of UDCs to a close, here is a UDC from Stokes Croft in Bristol from February 1852.  I'm afraid that my attention seems to have wandered as I now seem to be collecting Bristol Postal History as well as Somerset.

These next two sheets show the currently earliest and latest recorded examples of the first Streeet UDC, from March 1848 ...

... and September 1848.  The second Street UDC was issued in June 1849.

Weare was issued with a UDC in December 1853; below is the earlst recorded example, from August 1853.

And finally here is an example of the West Pennard UDC from March 1857, currently the latest known example.

UDCs #4 - Lydiard (Bishop's Lydeard), Meare, Paulton, Pawlet(t)

This next UDC, from Lydiard (Bishop's Lydeard) is currently the earliest known example in red from October 1845.

The Meare UDC below from February 1856 is currently the latest recorded example.

Paulton had an early serif-type UDC and the example below is currently the earliest known example, from May 1842.

This UDC from Pawlet (renamed to Pawlett in 1904) in January 1853 is currently the only recorded example.

UDCs #3 - Cross, East Harptree, Enmore, Huntspill

Continuing the UDC theme, this next sheet has two examples of the Cross UDC, from December 1827 and February 1838, spanning the first period of recorded usage.  From 1839 to 1840 Cross used a double arc dated handstamp, before reverting back to using its UDC from 1842 to 1850.

This next UDC is from East Harptree in June 1849, being another early serif-type UDC.

Enmore had two UDC handstamps, this example from October 1859 being currently the only recorded example of the second one which was issued in December 1855.

Below is the the latest known used example of the late format Huntspill UDC, from February 1859.

UDCs #2 - Burnham, Cheddar, Churchill (& Langford & Street), Upper Clevedon

Continuing with UDCs, here is an example of the "BURNHAM-SOMST" UDC from November 1844.

This next sheet has three examples of Cheddar UDCs, from August & October 1848 and March 1849. The earliest Cheddar UDC was issued in December 1847, with later ones issued in March and April 1851.

... and here is a postcard from the period illustrating Cheddar.

This cover from March 1852 has three UDCs for the price of one, with UDCs from Churchill in blue, Langford in black and Street also in black, being the earliest recorded blue Churchill UDC and black Langford UDC.

This entire has a nice example of the Upper Clevedon UDC from the middle of June 1843 - not quite the earliest known which is from 1st June.

More UDCs #1 - Abbots Leigh, Banwell, Bedminster, Belvidere (Bath)

The next few posts all illustrate UDC handstamps that I have fairly recently acquired, starting with one from Abbots Leigh from October 1857.  This is currently the latest recorded example.

This UDC from Banwell from September 1848 is also the current latest recorded example.

This example of the Bedminster UDC from April 1840 is currently the earliest recorded example.

This is an example of the Belvidere UDC - Belvidere (aka Belvedere) is a region of Bath.

Bits of Bristol

This post strays a bit out of Somerset into Bristol, though this first cover from December 1814 is going to Sidcot in Somerset.  Sidcot was a receiving house on the road to Axbridge, opened in 1805 for the Fifth Clause Post.  The wrapper has a manuscript "1d" on the reverse for the Fifth Clause post from Bristol to Sidcot.

This next piece is part of a parcel, with a large address label for Hellyar & Crinks, and with a Parcel Post label for Victoria Street, Bristol with a handstamp dated November 1897.

Finally, here is a Post Office form used to requisition licenses by the postmaster of Inns Court Green, Bristol in November 1960.  The postmaster is requesting two books of gun licenses and two of TV licenses.

This is the reverse of the form, showing a nice Bristol slogan cancel.