Bristol Penny Post - a few items

Bristol had a large Penny Post system, with receiving house handstamps going up to No.70.  Here are a few items from its Penny Post.  Hotwells originally had the "No.1" receiving house handstamp, while Clifton had the "No.2" handstamp - until April 1832 when they swapped, perhaps because Clifton was then much the higher class area.  The entire below is from August 1823 with the third "No.1" handstamp used at Hotwells.

The entire below from Clifton to Edinburgh in May 1827 has the fifth boxed "No.2" handstamp used at Clifton, and a framed "1/2d" Scottish wheel tax handstamp.

Kingsdown had the "No.5" receiving house and in November 1837 was using an unboxed handstamp.

Here is an example of the unboxed "No.70" receiving house handstamp that was in use at Cross Hands near Pilning in May 1837.

The unboxed "No.66" receiving house handstamp is known in use at Rudgeway between 1836 and 1839 - the front below is a very late example.

The entire below is from Downend to Cardiff in October 1846 and has a degraded "No.38" receiving house handstamp.  The walk to Downend went via Stapleton which might explain the "STAPLETON-ROAD" udc handstamp.

Below is the contents of the entire from Downend.

Bristol Penny Post - Hotwells & Clifton

Hotwells and Clifton in Bristol had the No.1 and No.2 Receiving House handstamps respectively until they swapped over in 1832.

Starting with Hotwells, the first two entires are for "No.1" and have two different Bristol Penny Post handstamps, while the last two are for "No.2" with the dated Bristol Penny Post handstamp.

 

 

 

Moving on to Clifton, the first four entires are for "No.2", the first two having red Bristol Penny Post handstamps (in use 1814-1821).

 

 

 

See the next sheet for details on John Tod.

The next two entires are from the "No.1" period where Clifton had a unique oval handstamp.  The first entire is also to John Tod like the previous one and is followed by details about a "Writer to the Signet".