Axbridge boxed mileage mark, 1804

The "AXBRIDGE / 141" boxed mileage mark is only known used in 1804.  I've been looking for an example for a while and have finally found one (not a very clear example it must be admitted).

A few commercial items associated with Bristol

Bristol Zoo in Clifton closed on 3rd September 2022, with its animals moving to the Wild Place Project site near Cribbs Causeway.  The postcards below show children being given rides on an elephant and a camel.

The next couple of items are commercial, the first being a windowed envelope with a 'Brolac' meter mark from 10th October 1961.  Unfortunately the Printed Matter rate went up on 1st October 1961.

 

 The final item is a commercial windowed envlope for The Ray Engineering Co. from October 1965.

The Cross Penny Post - Part III

Here are two further receiving house handstamps used in the Cross Penny Post, starting with a boxed "No.10" handstamp.  The receiving house is believed to be in East Brent, where ths entire below was written.  This is a late example from 1849 (well after the end of the Penny Posts in 1840).

The final example is an unboxed "No.12" receiving house handstamp used in February 1839 (so during the actual Penny Post period).  It was written in Hutton Vicarage and it is likely that the receiving house was either in Hutton or in nearby Locking.

The Cross Penny Post - Part II

Skipping ahead a few numbers from the previous post, Wedmore had the boxed "No.9" receiving house handstamp.  The entire below was written at Sand, a hamlet about a mile south of Wedmore.

We don't know where the large unboxed "No.7" receiving house handstamp was used.  Below are two examples, both bearing the name of the Revd. Kempthorne in the filing notes.  Revd. John Kempthorn was the vicar of Wedmore from 1827 until his death in 1876, and is recorded in the 1841 census as living in Wedmore.

The Cross Penny Post - Part I

A Penny Post was established at Cross in 1827 after the establishment of a new Mail Coach from Bristol to Bridgwater.  Cross was only a tiny place but it was at a point where the new coach road crossed a minor road from Axbridge to Weston-super-Mare.

A number of the receiving houses in the Cross Penny Post are difficult to place, though the first few are quite clear.  Axbridge had the boxed "No.1" receiving house handstamp, often used in blue alongside a straight-line "AXBRIDGE" handstamp.

Places often continued to use their Penny Post receiving house handstamp as receiving marks even after the introduction of the uniform penny post and the abolition of Penny Posts.

Weston-super-Mare had the boxed "No.2" receiving house handstamp, ...

 

... and Banwell had the boxed "No.3" receiving house handstamp.

Two of the Receiving Houses in the Frome Penny Post

Frome has four different receiving house handstamps recorded, a boxed "No.1" thought to be used at Norton St Philip, an unboxed "No.2" thought to be used in Beckington, a boxed "No.2" used at Beckington (shown below) ...

... and an unboxed "No.3" used at Mells, where a receiving house was established in 1832.

Early Langport, Somerton and Martock handstamps

Here are a couple of early handstamps, the first from Langport via Somerton to London in 1799.  The London receiving date stamp has a code "G" above it.

The second entire comes from Martock to London in 1796.  It is a very early example of the Martock handstamp, the previous earliest example recorded was in 1812.

One more UDC - Stoke (under Ham or Sub-Hamdon)

Just found another UDC, from Stoke in November 1852.  The UDC was issued in April 1852 under Yeovil and this is currently the only recorded example.

Stoke-under-Ham straight line handstamp, 1826

Here is an example of the "STOKE UNDER HAM" straight line handstamp used in 1826.  The handstamp is known from 1806, this example being late usage.

Stoke-under-Ham is known in the Yeovil and Ilminster Penny Posts in the 1830s, and may also have been in a South Petherton Penny Post and in the Crewkerne Penny Post.  

The "under-Ham" or later "sub-Hamdon" refers to the nearby Ham Hill.