Some Somerset "I"s and "K"s - Ilchester, Ilton, Kingsbury, Kingston St Mary

A couple of Somerset I"s starting with an "ILCHESTER" single ring cancel from August 1929, ....

... and a couple of registered envelopes from Ilton under Ilminster in 1947 and 1956.

Moving on to a couple of "K"s, here's a registered envelope from Kingsbury Episcopi in February 1940.  The "Episcopi" part of the village's name means "of the Bishop" in Latin.  It refers to the fact that the village belonged to the Bishop of Bath and Wells and not the nearby abbey at Muchelney.

The registered envelope below is from Kingston St Mary, near Taunton, sent in June 1922.  The first part of the village name comes from the kings settlement having belonged to the kings of the West Saxons before being ceded to the Bishop of Winchester as part of the manor of Taunton Deane, with the church's dedication being added in the 20th century.

Mail via Somerton in 1804 and 1810

 Here are a couple of pieces of mail that went via Somerton, the first from Ilchester to Ford near Wiveliscombe in August 1804, with two boxed mileage marks from Ilchester and from Somerton.

The second is from South Petherton to Westminster in 1810, with a "SOUTH / PETHERTON" handstamp and another Somerton mileage mark.

 

Refused Mail at Ilchester, 1849

In July 1849 the entire below was sent from Crewkerne to Ilchester where the recipient refused it, so it went back to Crewkerne.  This may have been because the contents were a letter informing the recipient that the landlord's agent would be calling to collect the rent.

Ilchester letter from Ilchester Gaol (with mileage mark) and Ilchester "399." 3-bar vertical oval cancel

Here is a letter written from Ilchester Gaol about an inmate who is being sued by a London wine merchant in June 1826.

This second item from Ilchester is addressed to Yeovil and has two "399." 3-bar vertical oval cancels (3VOS) and an "ILCHESTER" 20mm single ring dated November 1874.  This appears to be quite a lot earlier than previous recorded examples.

Vertical oval single Barred Numeral cancels from Crewkerne and Ilchester

Crewkerne was Post Office number "230" and used a 4-bar vertical oval single (4VOS) cancel from 1872 to 1878.  Here is an example from 1872.

Ilchester was issued with two similar "399." 3-bar vertical oval single (3VOS) cancels from 1877 to 1881.  Here is an example from late 1879.

Ilchester Undated Circular (UDC) handstamp, 1837

 Here is an example of the Ilchester undated circular handstamp (UDC), used in December 1837.

The routing of this letter is interesting - it appears it went on the Exeter - London mail coach which after 1836 was routed via Ilchester and Wincanton to London.  This letter was then offloaded at Hindon (eight miles north of Shaftesbury, evidenced by the Hindon UDC) to go down to Shaftesbury.

This route would be about 35 miles, compared to the direct route of Ilchester - Shaftesbury which is about 25 miles.

The letter was only charged 6d (for 20-30 miles), rather than 7d which would have been the charge (for 30-50 miles) for the longer route that the Post Office chose to take.

Boxed Mileage Marks - "DULVERTON / 187" & "ILCHESTER / 130"

“DULVERTON / 187” 1801-1816

This entire was sent free to the Honourable Hugh Clifford, eldest son of Charles Clifford, 6^th baron Clifford of Chudleigh, by Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, MP for Devon, who has franked it.

Unfortunately I do not have a copy of either Frome mileage mark.

“ILCHESTER / 130” 1803-1807

This entire is from the year before the earliest example previously known.

Ilchester and Ilminster Barred Numeral cancels

Both Ilchester and Ilminster were issued with barred numeral cancels in April 1844 for use from 1st May onwards.  Here are a couple of examples of the Ilchester "399" horizontal oval cancel, used in February 1845 and December 1847.

In March 1884 Ilchester was issued with a 3-bar duplex cancel.

Ilminster was issued with a second 3-bar horizontal oval cancel in January 1857.  This second cancel has smaller numerals than the first one issued.  Here are examples of the original 1844-type cancel and the second 3HOS cancel, from May 1856 and August 1859 respectively.

Ilchester mileage

Just a couple of different handstamps from Ilchester, both mileage marks.  The first, SO 537, is boxed.  The two examples are from 1803 and 1804.

The second, SO 540, has lines above and below the mileage.  The two examples are from 1821 and 1832.

Glastonbury (1896), Ilchester (1841), Milverton (1839)

Here is a Free entire from Glastonbury to London which was initially going to be charged 5d but then received a London "FREE" handstamp and had the postal charge crossed out.  It has a nice two line "GLASTON / BURY" handstamp on the reverse.

An entire from Ilchester with an 1841 1d red-brown just about tied with an Ilchester Maltese Cross.

An entire from Milverton to Dulverton with a clear script "Milverton" handstamp.

Ilchester

A few handstamps and cancellations for Ilchester starting with one from 1796.  The postage for this entire shows how before 1797 the rate was costed separately for the mileage to London (5d) and away from it (4d) making a total charge of 9d.  After 1797 the rate was costed on the total mileage to and away from London.

 A barred numeral obliterator for Ilchester ("399"):

 A double-arc dated handstamp from 1845:

 And finally a double-circle, double-arc cancel from 1948, by which time Ilchester came under Yeovil as its Post Town.

South Petherton

Up until 1795 South Petherton only had a private messenger service to Crewkerne; at that point it came on a route from Ilchester as shown on the plan proposed by the Surveyor, S. Lott, to Francis Freeling.

The entire shown below was sent from South Petherton to Chard in 1826 - the postal charge was 6d (for 20-30 miles) which matches a route of South Petherton - Ilchester - Yeovil - Crewkerne - Chard.

Something changed in 1828 - perhaps South Petherton became a Post Town (the Proof Books show a "So. Petherton" undated circle cancel sent direct to South Petherton in May 1828) ?  The postal route also appears to have changed as shown by the entire below, also from South Petherton to Chard which is charged 5d (for 15-20 miles).  This is compatible with a route of South Petherton - Crewkerne - Chard.