More on Bath "No.1" Receiving House

The initial establishment of the Bath Penny Post in 1810 (after an experimental Fifth Clause Post in 1804-5 that was dropped because it ran at a loss) was announced in a Post Office Notice in the Bath Chronicle on 18th September 1810.

 The initial Walks in the Penny Post were as shown on the map below (taken from an article in the S&DPHG Journal by Mike Welch, based on information in the Post Office Archives).

Walk No.1 "commences in Sydney Place, passes along Bathwick Street, across the ferry, along the farther part of Walcot, Kensington Place, Grosvenor Place, Lambridge, Batheaston and Bathford".

Most of the mail that has survived from the Bath Penny Post is some years after its initial establishment.  The vignette below is from a much larger map of 1838 and shows the Bath Penny Post.

Oxley ("The English Provincial Local Posts 1765-1840") has identified Batheaston as Receiving House No.2 while others have evidence that Walcot/Grosvenor was No.3.

Based on the above I suggest that it is possible that Receiving House No.1 was at Bathford.  The initial walk in 1810 suggests that it could have been, at least in the early days, while the vignette from 1838 suggests that Bathford was still a Receiving House then.

Another candidate for RH No.1 is Bathampton, but it does not appear to have been a centre of population in the 1800s - Pigot's 1844 Directory of Somerset does not list any tradespeople in Bathampton whereas there are 19 entries for Bathford.  The early Ordnance Survey maps of 1884-7 show Bathampton as a small hamlet while Bathford looks more substantial.

One factor possibly in favour of Bathampton is that Hampton Manor (now Bathampton Manor) was to the north-west side of Bathampton (over the river from Batheaston) - it is possible that the occupant of the Manor warranted the establishment of a Receiving House there.  However there has been a toll-bridge near the Manor since the 18th century giving access to Batheaston which also had a Receiving House, so perhaps Bathampton Manor wouldn't be enough to justify a Receiving House.