Continuing ... Bruton, Buckland St Mary, Burnham-on-Sea, Clevedon - and Combe Sydenham

The entire below dated December 1774 has a very clear "BRUTON" handstamp, at the start of its known usage.

The "BRUTON / 142" boxed mileage mark on this entire dated 1808 is much less clear, being towards the end of its known usage from 1802 to 1809.

A Certificate of Posting from Buckland St Mary in 1992 is probably one of the few ways to get a local postmark.

The novelty card below, from Burnham-on-Sea in 1925 was charged postage due as it was treated as a Letter because there was more than the sender's name and address on it.

The envelope below went as Printed Matter and received a "170" triangle machine cancel.  The slogan cancel was in use from 26th October to 1st November 1961 and 1st to 28th November 1962, and there is a pencil annotation on the reverse of "11/62" which matches the second period of usage.

And finally a picture illustrating Combe Sydenham, Somersetshire in 1765.  Combe Sydenham did not have a post office.

Skeletons - Bourton (Dorset), Bruton, Dulverton, Fivehead, and Lydeard St Laurence (Lawrence)

A skeleton postmark is a circular datestamp made up from loose metal type. Skeletons are brought into use when an office's handstamp is damaged, mislaid or being updated, usually for a short period, then returned to the Post Office stores for reuse.  

Here are a few skeletons, starting with a "BOURTON / WINCANTON SO" skeleton used in February 1909.  Bourton is in Dorset but came under Wincanton.  The skeleton is known in use from 9th February to 20th March 1909.

The "BRUTON / SOMERSET" skeleton below is known used between 31st August and 25th September 1926.
 

The "DULVERTON SOMERSET" skeleton below is only known used on 26th May 1911.

Skeletons were normally metal (with removable type) but there are also skeleton climax rubber cancels, as shown in the example below from Fivehead.  This skeleton cancel is only known used on 1st and 2nd November 1907.

Here is another rubber skeleton cancel, from Lydeard St Lawrence - the cancel is mispelt as Laurence.  The cancel is only known used on 11th December 1913.

Bruton 1797

Here is another example of the "BRUTON" straight line handstamp known in use 1797-1798 (see here for previous post).

Bruton 1790

The entire below went from Bruton to Wells and is dated February 1790 inside.  It has an example of a straight line "BRUTON" handstamp that was previously only known used in 1775.

Blue Ball Commercial Inn, Bruton

The item below is more social history than postal history, being a receipt dated January 1869.  The receipt is from the Blue Ball Commercial Inn, Bruton.

Bruton 1797 and 1804

The "BRUTON" straight line handstamp illustrated below is known used in 1797 and 1798.

Bruton had a boxed mileage mark "BRUTON / 142" from 1802 to 1809, the example below being from 1804.

Boxed Mileage Marks - "BRUTON / 142"

“BRUTON / 142” 1802-1809

Bruton and Castle Cary were Post Towns until the introduction of the Fifth Clause Posts from Shaftesbury (later from Wincanton) and Shepton Mallet in 1823.

Unfortunately I do not have an example of the “CASTLE-CAREY / 145” mark.

Bruton

Apologies if these posts are a bit random, but that's almost what they are !

Here are a couple of items from Bruton, the first being a boxed mileage mark from 1803.

Secondly a Bruton "948" 3VOD cancel from 1877 with an envelope used for Stuckey's Banking Co.

Bruton Maltese Cross ?

This entire gives a further hint that Bruton had a Maltese Cross.  It is from Bruton to Shaftesbury in May 1840, without any postage stamp (because Bruton was too minor an office to have received postage stamps that early).

The interesting thing is that it did not receive any postal markings other than the "BRUTON" double-arc undated handstamp.  If Bruton had been a minor village office then it would have received a handstamp from its Post Town.  In particular, the route from Bruton to Shaftesbury will have gone via Wincanton, the most likely candidate for Bruton's Post Town, so the absence of a Wincanton handstamp is fairly indicative of Bruton's status in 1840.

So it is likely that Bruton was a Sub-Office by 1840, and as such should have received a Maltese Cross - perhaps at the same time as it received some 1d black stamps !

Bruton Maltese Cross ?

Below is a nice example of a black Maltese Cross on an 1841 1d red-brown, with a manuscript filing date inside of September 1841, alongside a "BRUTON" double-arc undated handstamp.

However Bruton was not a Post Town in 1841, although it had been previously.  Before the introduction of the Uniform Penny Post it was under the Fifth Clause Posts of Wincanton and Shepton Mallet.  By 1844 it came under Bath.  One assumption would be that the Maltese Cross was applied in Wincanton en route to Yeovil.  However there are no Wincanton marks to confirm this (both my examples of Wincanton Maltese Crosses have other clear Wincanton marks as seen below).

However Bruton was a major sub-office, and although it does not appear in the 1844 list of post-towns issued with the barred numeral obliterators, which went up to number "947", it did receive the next number "948".

Remaining early serif UDCs - Bruton, Castle Cary, Burnham Somst., Keynsham, ....

There are 32 more early (serif) UDCs, mostly of 29 mm diameter.  Of these, three - Burnham (March 1836), Merriott (December 1840) and Totterdown (March 1844) - are not known used.  Two others, Chewton-Mendip (March 1840) and Saltford (November 1842) have only a single example known.

Bruton's 26 mm diameter UDC was issued on 22nd June 1835.  The partial example below may be the latest known, from 2nd January 1850.

Castle Cary's UDC was registered in the Steel Impression Book on 22nd June 1835 and is known used from March 1836 to June 1846.  The example below is from June 1844.

Burnham Somst.'s UDC was registered in the Steel Impression Book on 7th January 1840 and is known used from 1842-1849  (not to be confused with the earlier March 1836 UDC which has no known examples).  The example below is from October 1843.

Keynsham's UDC was registered in the SIB on 30th March 1840 and is known used from 1840 to August 1849 in black, with a single example known in red from June 1843.  The examples below are from July 1848.

To be continued ....

Shepton Mallet Fifth Clause Post (to/from Bruton, Castle Cary)

A Fifth Clause Post to/from Shepton Mallet was established in 1823 serving Bruton and Castle Cary for mail to the north (mail to the south and to London went via Shaftesbury 5th Clause Post until 1830 when it went via the Wincanton 5th Clause Post).

The following pages show examples of the 5th Clause Post to and from Bruton ("No.1" Receiving House"), and from Castle Cary ("No.2" Receiving House). (Apologies for some duplication with the previous post !).

 

Bruton Fifth Clause Posts (from Shepton Mallet, Shaftesbury, Wincanton)

The Shaftesbury Fifth Clause Post was set up in 1823 serving Bruton, Castle Cary and Wincanton, for mail to London and the south.  At a similar time the Shepton Mallet Fifth Clause Post was set up serving Bruton and Castle Cary, for mail to the north.  It is not thought that Wincanton came under the Shepton Mallet 5th Clause Post.

In 1830 Wincanton became a Post Town (because it was then on the post road) and started a Fifth Clause Post serving Bruton and Castle Cary for mail to London and the south, replacing the Shaftesbury 5th Clause Post.

The following sheets show examples of Bruton in (a) the Shaftesbury 5th Clause Post, (b) the Shepton Mallet 5th Clause Post, and (c) the Wincanton 5th Clause Post.