Some Somerset "Sh"s - Shepton Beauchamp, Shepton Mallet, Shipham, Shuttern

The Post Office had some difficulty delivering this envelope from Shepton Mallet to Pilton in May 1895 before it was returned to Budd & Spire, Glastonbury with a violet "Undelivered for reason stated" cachet.

The Post Office was also unable to deliver the under franked envelope below in August 1959, this time because it was refused - it was also charged 3d for return.

 

The items below come from the similar sounding Shepton Beauchamp, some 25 miles south-west of Shepton Mallet near Ilminster.  They are commercial printed postcards for Manor Farm.

Shipham is 8 miles east of Weston-super-Mare and comes under Bristol based on the "SHIPHAM / (Under Bristol)"Parcel Post Label below .  However the "SHIPHAM / WESTON-SUPER-MARE" climax rubber handstamp dated 30th April 1898 in manuscript suggests that it came under Weston-super-Mare.

Below is a cover from Shipham in December 1974 where the handstamp is "SHIPHAM / WINSCOMBE SOMERSET", showing it under Winscombe with psot going via Weston-super-Mare.

The registered covers below are from Shuttern, Taunton which had sub-office number 4.  The bottom cover has the 75th Anniversary of the UPU set but was sent a day late so was not a FDC.  The registered envelope is marked "senders excess" which suggests that the extra postage did not pay for extra insurance.

A few Somerset "H"s - Hinton St George, Hinton St Mary, Huntspill

The entire below was sent from Hinton St George in June 1829 in the Ilminster Fifth Clause Post, with the boxed "No.3" handstamp of Hinton St George.

In more modern times, here are a couple of items from Hinton St George, the top in 1958 and the lower one from 1975, both with HINTON ST.GEORGE / SOMERSET" double circle double line-arc cancels.

Hinton St Mary is about 25 miles east of Hinton St George and is in Dorset.  The Parcel Post Label below was used in 1896.

Another "H", the envelope below has a "HUNTSPILL" double arc undated handstamp and was used below in July 1855.

Frome

Some items from Frome (can be quite difficult to search for items from Frome as sites often give you those with "from" as well), starting with an item to Florence in January 1895.  The item has a hexagon Tax mark with a "L" below - which may be for a Late Fee.

The two postcards below, from 1907 and 1909, have Frome 1d charge marks, the top one because it was unfranked and the bottom card because there was material on the front and the Post Office treated it as a Letter.

Finally an Air Mail postcard sent from Bombay to Frome in June 1941 bearing a triangular censor mark.

Some Bristol Postcards

Black Boy Hill, the upper part of Whiteladies Road, was named after the Black Boy Inn which stood on the hill until 1874.  The Inn was named after Charles II.  Whiteladies Road was also named after an Inn.

Here are a set of Royal Mail postcards featuring Mail Carriers built in Bristol.

The final two postcards feature the Bristol Trams and also the Clifton Rocks Railway.

Bristol - 1990s, 2000s

More Bristol, starting with two uses of "REPORTING OFFICE / BRISTOL" oval cancels from 1998 and 1999, with different sizes of "BRISTOL".

The envelope below was sent at Christmas 2002 according to a pencil annotation on the reverse, but should have been culled so as not to receive a machine cancel.

The postcard below received a commemorative cancel for the Clifton Suspension Bridge in February 2006.

Both envelopes below, from Bristol to the USA in March 2018, have "THE GALLERIES BO BRISTOL" self-inking datestamps with reduced form IMP machine cancels.

And finally the envelope below received the slogan cancel for the Coronation of King Charles III in May 2023.  Unfortunately you can't see the cancel because of the stamps and the poor printing.

Bristol - 1970s, 1980s

Carrying on with the Bristol theme, here is a part envelope sent from Gloucestershire to "Chesterfield House, Henley Hill, Bristol" bearing a green "INCORRECTLY ADDRESSED" cachet in January 1968.  I think the envelope would have been sorted to Bristol in Gloucestershire and only when it was in Bristol would the address have been determined to be wrong and the green cachet applied.

The envelope below from Thailand in 1981 was addressed to Basildon and then redirected to Bristol.

The post office envelope below bears a "PHILATELIC COUNTER / BRISTOL" handstamp dated October 1981 but no stamps.

The (Christmas Card ?) below sent in December 1984 was addressed to "Compton Dando / Keynsham" and was corrected with Keynsham crossed out and a green "NOT KEYNSHAM" cachet applied.

Bristol - 1960s

 Some items from Bristol in the 1960s starting with an OHMS envelope in April 1966 with a violet "HEAD POSTMASTERS OFFICE / BRISTOL" cachet.

The envelope below from Glasgow to Bristol was damaged in February 1967 and received a label saying that "The Postmaster is very sorry that tthis packet has been accidentally damaged in the post." and bearing a "BRISTOL" single ring handstamp.

The postal stationery envelope below has been uprated from 4d to 5d when the postal rate went up in 16th September 1968.   This rate remained in force until Decimalisation on 15th February 1971.

Another First Day of Use, this time for Machins on 27th August 1969, with the envelope below being cancelled with "BRISTOL / 24" double circle double line-arc cancels.

Bristol - 1940s

The cover below was from Newton Abbot in Devon to Poona, India in September 1940 and was sent airmail, but was apparently diverted to a Convoy leaving from Bristol with the Air Mail etiquette crossed out and a straight line "BRISTOL" cancel applied.

The envelope below, sent in October 1945, from Bristol to APO 595, was deemed undeliverable and returned to Bristol having gone via Boston, Massachusetts in the USA.

This is another triangle "134" cancel, this time going to the USA.  It is likely to have been sent sometime between May 1949 to October 1950 though could have been as late as October 1957.

And for a little diversion, here are a couple of security overprints on receipts from J.S. Fry & Sons Ltd, the bottom one dated to May 1940 (the date on the top receipt is unclear).

More Bristol

Some more Bristol related items, starting with a cover from Avonmouth (under Bristol) to the USA in 1930.  The envelope is one for the US Hydrographic Office, which would have been free in the USA but not in the UK.

This next registered envelope is from Bridport to Cornwall, going via Bristol and receiving a "BRISTOL / 134 / 15" three bar vertical oval duplex cancel with "15" in the basal bars when it was sent in June 1899.

The cover below is another that went through Bristol in transit, this time from the Cayman Islands to Coventry, receiving a single ring "BRISTOL / 2" handstamp on the reverse in February 1910.

The envelope below is a First Day Cover for the King George V Silver Jubilee issue on 7th May 1935 and received a "Found at Bristol / Without contents" cachet - as an FDC it was unlikely to have had any contents.

Both envelopes below received an undated  triangular "134" machine cancel, probably because they were printed matter - the top one also received a dated cancel in February 1937, perhaps because it was going abroad to British Columbia.

The unfranked envelope below was charged 22p postage due in 1983.  The postage rate was 12½p for up to 60g but the Postage Due charges had changed to a fixed charge of 10p plus the deficiency rounded down.

A bit of Bristol ... Clifton, College Green, Filton, Fishponds

In the spirit of the previous posts, here is an envelope from Clifton to Bombay in 1859, taking about a month to get there.  Postage was 6d (the rate for anywhere except France & Belgium from 1858).

The Postal Stationery envelope below from Clifton to Kent in 1892 had 1d to pay as it was over 1oz, with the charge being indicated by a large "1d" in a circle, used at Clifton from 1883 to 1909.

Here is an envelope from College Green, Bristol to Bath in 1854, with a "COLLEGE-GREEN" double arc udc on the reverse.  This is currently the latest known example of the udc.

The udc on the wrapper below from Filton in 1847 is "FELTON".  The udc was issued in 1842, Felton being an old/alternative spelling for Filton.

Here is another unfranked postcard, written in Guernsey in 1923 and getting a 2d charge mark in Weymouth on its way to Bristol.