Coleford, Combe St Nicholas

Here are a number of covers from Coleford, Somerset (not to be confused with Coleford Gloucestershire), starting with a cover from 1869 with a "COLEFORD / SOMT" handstamp.

These next two sheets have covers from 1888 to 1910, all with "COLEFORD / SOM" handstamps.

 

Here are examples from Combe St Nicholas, near Chard, with "COMBE ST NICHOLAS" single ring cancels, from 1907 and 1912.

Cheddon Fitzpaine, Clapton, Claverham, Cleeve

This first postcard is from Cheddon Fitzpaine, near Taunton, posted in May 1916.

The next is from Clapton, near Crewkerne, posted in October 1922.

Claverham was under Bristol until the post office closed in 2008.  This first sheet shows two single ring cancels from 1907 and 1910, and a skeleton from 1908.

Two further Claverham single ring cancels, from 1940 and 1974.

The first postcard below from Cleeve must have been sent between 1902 (when the KEVII stamp was issued) to 1918 (when the postcard rate was increased to a penny).

 

Carhampton,Catsham, Charlton Horethorne, Charlton Mackrell

This first registered cover has "CARHAMPTON / MINEHEAD SOMERSET" double circle cancels but unfortunately the year is unreadable. However, because the envelope is franked 8½d, it must be from the period from 1st May 1952 to 31st May 1956 when the miniumum registration fee was 6d and the postal rate was 2½d.

This next cover has a commemorative cancel for Catsham in 1995 (there was no post office at Catsham).

Charlton Horethorne is in Somerset but comes under Sherborne in Dorset.

The cover below is from Charlton Mackrell in December 1908 and is cancelled "CHARLTON MACKRELL / SOMERTON.S.O.SOM".  The office had transferred to Taunton in November 1907 but did not receive a "CHARLTON MACKRELL / TAUNTON" handstamp until October 1921.

Blagdon under Bristol, Blagdon Hill (Blagdon under Taunton)

Confusingly there used to be two different post offices in Somerset called 'Blagdon', one under Bristol and one under Taunton.  The one under Taunton was renamed 'Blagdon Hill' in 1902.

All of these examples are from Blagdon under Bristol, except for the last which is from Blagdon Hill (under Taunton).  The first example is a cover sent from Blagdon to Shaftesbury with a "BLAGDON.SOMT" single ring from May 1865.  One can tell it is from the Blagdon under Bristol because the cover goes via Bristol.

By 1908 the handstamps read "BLAGDON / BRISTOL".

The top cover below was addressed to 'Nr Blagdon, Taunton' in 1921 but was missent to Blagdon under Bristol.

By 1967 Blagdon had a 'Dulwich' handstamp (a double circle double-arc "BLAGDON /BRISTOL" handstamp).

Below is an example of the Blagdon parcel post facsimile handstamp, dated 1974.

This last example shows single ring handstamps for "BLAGDON HILL / TAUNTON" from 1906 and 1908, both from after when the Blagdon under Taunton was renamed in 1902.

Bishop Sutton, Bishopsworth, Bishopsworth Road

This postcard sent from Bishop Sutton in 1906 has the message written in mirror-script.

This next sheet has two further different types of handstamp, a 'Dulwich' double circle double-arc handstamp from 1991, and a self-inking datestamp (SID) from 2006.

In this next sheet are two different handstamps from Bishopsworth, a single ring from 1949 and SIDs from 1997 and 1999.

The Bishopsworth Road post office was slightly closer to the centre of Bristol.  The Proof of Posting below has a SID from 1997, from before the post office closed in 2003.

Backwell, Batcombe, Bishop's Hull

Carrying on, here are a few sheets for Backwell under Bristol, which replaced the 'West Town' post office which was half-a-mile to its west in 1951.  The first cover is from July 1951 and has "BACKWELL / BRISTOL" skeleton cancels and is still using West Town registration etiquettes.

In this cover from 1974, two different handstamps from Backwell are in evidence.

By the late 1990s Backwell was using self-inking datestamps (SIDs).

The cover below was posted in Batcombe in 1906.  The sender has put the correct one penny postage on the postcard, as because it has glitter on the front it would be classed as a letter.

 The postcard below was sent from Bishop's Hull by T.W. Cowan in 1907.  He was known as the father of British bee-keeping.

Allerford, Ashton Gate

I've started going through my covers looking for places that I haven't covered yet, so these first sheets come from the "A"s - starting with a couple of sheets come from Allerford, the first with two postcards, from 1911 and from 1931, both with "ALLERFORD" single ring cancels.

By 1960 Allerford had a double circle "ALLERFORD / MINEHEAD SOMERSET" cancel.

This last item is a Prisoner of War postcard from  Camp No.124, which was at Ashton Gate, Bedminster, sent in November 1946.

Keynsham 'Wessex' cancel

Before the issue of barred numeral cancels, approximately 40 towns in south-west England used their circular date stamps for cancelling adhesive stamps rather than Maltese Cross cancels, the majority known being used during 1842. These are commonly referred to as the “Wessex” cancellations because of the region from which most of them originate.

Here is an example of one, possibly inadvertant,  from Keynsham in November 1841.

Ilchester and Ilminster Barred Numeral cancels

Both Ilchester and Ilminster were issued with barred numeral cancels in April 1844 for use from 1st May onwards.  Here are a couple of examples of the Ilchester "399" horizontal oval cancel, used in February 1845 and December 1847.

In March 1884 Ilchester was issued with a 3-bar duplex cancel.

Ilminster was issued with a second 3-bar horizontal oval cancel in January 1857.  This second cancel has smaller numerals than the first one issued.  Here are examples of the original 1844-type cancel and the second 3HOS cancel, from May 1856 and August 1859 respectively.