Bridgwater Miscellany

It's the turn of Bridgwater (or Bridgewater according to the postmarks from approximately 1750 to about 1870), starting a couple of letters with London Receiver marks from 1782.

The first one below has a "PARTINGTON" receiver's mark ...

... while this one has a "WALTER" handstamp.  George Walter succeeded Richard Partington as the Receiver at Holborn Hill in 1782.

Below are printed orders for the assembly of the West Somerset Regiment of Yeomanry at Bridgwater, for eight days of duty in May 1835.  It was sent free from London.

Here is a copy of the orders.

Next is an entire sent from Rome to Cannington in December 1843., then redirected to Chudleigh, with redirection marks at Bridgewater.

Here is the contents, written in Italian, asking for a Commission.

From August 1844 the entire below was from Bridgwater to  London but had 2d more to pay.

And finally here are two postcards with "BRIDGWATER SOM." Krag machine cancels, the first from 1929 ...

... and the second from November 1933 with 1d postage due.  The postcard rate had been 1d from May 1922.

Bridgwater miscellany: Undated 3VOS, large No.1 Penny Post, Redirected Perfin, Compulsory Registration

Some items from Bridg(e)water  (the "E" in the middle appeared and then disappeared from cancels) starting with an undated Bridgwater "123" 3-bar vertical oval single cancel (3VOS).    No dated examples of the Bridgwater "123" 3VOS are known, while undated examples are normally on newspaper wrappers.  The "123" 3VOS was issued in March 1877.

Next, going back to 1820, here is an example of the large "No.1" receiving house handstamp in the Bridgwater Penny Post.  The entire below originally came from Bridport to Bridgwater for 9d and was then redirected to Bath for a total of 1/5d.  It looks like the postal route was not very direct, firstly going Bridport - Dorchester - Shaftesbury - Sherborne - Taunton - Bridgewater (about 90 miles), and then Bridgewater - Wells - Bristol - Bath (about 60 miles).

Next is another redirected item, from 1880, going from Bridgwater to Haselbury Plucknett, and then reposted to Weston-super-Mare.  The stamp has a "W.B." perfin from W.Brice, a solicitor.

Finally an item that was compulsorily registered in 1893 because it contained coin.  As such it was charged a special registration fee of 8d, as described by the label fixed to the reverse of the envelope.

Entire from North Petherton to Somerton, missent to Glastonbury

The entire below was from North Petherton, which was in the Bridg(e)water Penny Post from 1834 but did not appear to have a Receiving House handstamp.  A partial and very faint North Petherton UDC may just be seen on the front.

The entire was missent to Glastonbury as can be seen from the manuscript on the front.

Bridgwater 1706

Below is an example of the first handstamp in use at Bridgwater, from 1706.  The handstamp is known used in 1705-1706.

The letter was to London with a date inside of 8th May 1706 and a London bishop mark receiving mark dated 13th May.  It was charged 3d which was the rate for over 80 miles from 1657 to 1711.

The Eastern Telegram Company: Week End Telegram to Bridgwater, 1918

Here is a curiosity - the envelope for a Week End Telegram to Bridgwater in November 1918.

Bridg(e)water Penny Post: Unboxed "No.3" in 1843

The unboxed "No.3" receiving house handstamp in the Bridg(e)water Penny Post is thought to have been at Highbridge, and the handstamp is known in use from 1842 to 1845.  The example below is to Bristol in February 1843.

"BRIDGE / WATER" from 1773

By 1773 Bridgwater was spelt with an "E" in the middle (cf. the previous post).  The entire below has a "BRIDGE / WATER" handstamp with 7mm high lettering, in use 1772-1781. 

A new "BRIDG / WATER" handstamp from 1744

The entire below, acquired at Stampex in the Autumn, has a new two-line "BRIDG / WATER" handstamp used on 19th June 1744.  The handstamp measures 22 x 9 mm with 3½ mm lettering, compared to the one previously in use (known in use 1721-1739) which measures 23 x 10 mm with 4mm lettering.

Duke of Bridgewater

Not really to do with Somerset but here's a receipt from the Bridgewater Trust Collieries, issued to the Trustees of the late Duke of Bridgewater in 1898.

Boxed Mileage Marks - "BATH / 109" & "BRIDGEWATER / 150"

In 1784 the Post Office introduced handstamps with the mileage to London on them, to aid post office clerks in determining the postal charges. These handstamps had a limited life as the mileage to London changed as the postal routes altered and after about five years the Post Office stopped issuing them.
By the end of the 18^th century the Postmaster General had instructed John Cary, a map-maker, to prepare a survey of all the principal roads in the country under the supervision of the Superintendent of Mail Coaches. This was used in the issue of the second series of boxed mileage stamps from 1801.

Cat No	Type	Handstamp	Comments	Size (mm)	Colour	Dates	Rarity
SO 17	29	AXBRIDGE / 141		36x10	Black	1804	C
80	29	BATH / 109		19x10	Black	1801-04	E
224	29	BRIDGEWATER / 150		52x12	Black	1802-11	D
299	29	BRUTON / 142		25x10	Black	1802-09	D
320	29	CASTLE-CAREY / 145		52x11	Black	1804-22	E
444	29	DULVERTON / 187		36x10	Black	1801-16	C
488	29	FROOM / 115		22x10	Black	1802-07	D
490	29	FROOME / 115		25x11	Black	1803-04	D
537	29	ILCHESTER / 130		35x11	Black	1804-07	D
553	29	ILMINSTER / 143		35x11	Black	1801-21	D
591	29	LANGPORT / 140		34x11	Black	1805-46	C
603	29	MILVERTON / 169		35x11	Black	1801	H
604	29	MILVERTON / 172		39x11	Black	1805-33	C
624	29	MINEHEAD / 185		35x11	Black	1801-07	D
674	29	SHEPTON-MALLET / 135		55x11	Black	1801-10	D
703	29	SOMERTON / 135		35x11	Black	1804-11	D
783	29	TAUNTON / 161		35x11	Black	1802-14	D
860	29	WELLINGTON / 168		43x11	Black	1804-29	C-D
917	29	WELLS-S / 129		28x11	Black	1802-08	D
1019	29	WIVELSCOMBE / 175		56x12	Black	1805-29	C-D
1060	29	YEOVIL / 125		27x11	Black	1801-11	C

Unfortunately I do not (yet) have an example of the “AXBRIDGE / 141” mark.

“BATH / 109” 1801-1804

“BRIDGEWATER / 150” 1802-1811

Early Mileage Marks - "140 BRIDGE / WATER"

The “140 BRIDGE / WATER” handstamp is known in use from 1785-1786. A two-line “BRIDGE / WATER” handstamp is known used from 1783 to 1786, possibly in concurrent usage with the mileage mark though it may have been used before and brought back into use after the Bridgwater mileage mark.

I do not currently have examples of the “115 CASTLE / CAREY”, “144 CHARD” or “141 ILMIN / STER” marks, so cannot illustrate them here – please do send me an image if you have a copy of any of these marks (or let me know if you have a copy you would like to dispose of).

Bridg(e)water

Bridgwater has oscillated between not having an "E" in the middle and having one.  Here is a two line handstamp from c.1721-1739 where there is no "E" ("BRIDG / WATER").

In 1783 the handstamp had a middle "E", "BRIDGE / WATER", as this example from December 1783 shows.

The Handstamps continued to have a middle "E" apart from three skeleton cancels used in 1844, 1846 and 1849.  In 1850 the circular datestamp still had a middle "E" as shown in the envelope below, missent to Bridgwater in December 1850.

Somerset "Wessex" Cancel from Bridgewater

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.

The item below is a "Wessex" cancel from Bridgewater in July 1842.

Other places in Somerset that have known "Wessex" cancels are Bath (6), Bridgewater (2), Chard (8), Crewkerne (1), Frome (1), Ilminster (1), Taunton (3), Wellington (2), Wells (1), Weston-super-Mare (1), Wincanton (16) and Yeovil (2).

The numbers in brackets are the number of examples known by Rockoff & Jackson - their Volume 3 of "The Encyclopedia of The Maltese Cross Cancellations" lists the known "Wessex" cancels.

Bridg(e)water, North Petherton

Three sheets from Bridgwater, starting with the "BRIDGEWATER / 150" undated circular mileage handstamp with examples from 1826 and 1827.

Here is another example from 1826, the contents being an account from an ironmonger.

North Petherton was a Receiving House in the Bridgewater Penny Post from 1834.  No special Receiving House handstamp is known, a "NORTH-PETHERTON" undated circular handstamp being used instead.

Skeletons from Batheaston, Bridg(e)water and Crewkerne

Here are a few skeletons, firstly two from Batheaston in September 1912 which bring the earliest date known forward ...

... secondly one from Bridgwater in 1849 which extends the known usage back ...

... and finally one from Crewkerne from 1842 in the middle on the known usage period.

Another Bridg[e]water Penny Post Receiving House handstamp

I've just acquired another Bridgwater Penny Post entire with an unboxed "No.9" receiving house handstamp from 1839.  The "No.9" handstamp was used at Cossington, and this entire was written at Edington, two miles to the east.  The contents of the entire relate to Cheese.

Bridgewater Penny Post

Some examples from the Bridgewater Penny Post, first from Stowey which had been assigned the boxed "No.1" handstamp, from 1825 and 1828

And then some examples of the boxed "No.2" handstamp, assigned to Cannington.  This first example, from 1819, is an albino strike which may not show up well in the image.

 The next example is from 1822, still with the early unframed "BRIDGEWATER / PENNY POST" handstamp.

And finally a later, but undated, example with the framed "Bridgewater / Py Post" handstamp, known 1834-1830.

Bridg[e]water

A few handstamps from Bridgewater (or Bridgwater depending on when the handstamps are from), starting with a two-line handstamp from 1755.

The entire is written in beautiful copperplate, being a plea for more pairs of stockings.

Next from 1785 is a mileage handstamp, of the early form with the mileage first.

And finally from August 1844 is an early example of the Bridgwater "123" numeric obliterator cancel and an early example of the "BRIDGEWATER" single arc handstamp with code letters.