The entire below was sent from London to Luxborough near Dunster in November 1771. It has a triangular London Penny Post Paid handstamp, a red manuscript "Harwood", a London bishop mark for 17th November and manuscript "4" and a smaller "5" for postage.
"Harwood" may be the name of the London receiver, though I cannot find a "Harwood" in Hugh Feldman's "Letter Receivers of London". The sender has paid 1d for the London local post (hence the triangular "Penny Post Paid" mark), and the General Post to Dunster would have been 4d for over 80 miles. The smaller "5" could be the total charge including local delivery to Luxborough.Wednesday, 25 June 2025
Sunday, 24 December 2023
Some more Climax Rubber cancels from post offices under Taunton
I originally made a post in 2014 that described the background to Climax Rubber cancels - see here. The time has come to post up a few more, starting with some under Taunton. In the intervening years the number of such cancels recorded used in Somerset has increased from 636 to 692 (nearly all new types rather than new places).
To date five different Climax Rubber cancels are known for Babcary. Most were under Taunton, with one under Somerton known from 1905 to 1907. The one below from August 1911, known in 1911-1912, can be distinguished from the one known later by the length of "TAUNTON".
Culmhead currently has three different cancels known, the one below is known 1914-1915 and is the latest known Climax cancel.
Only one Climax rubber cancel is known for Curland, and it is only known used in 1916. The cancel was issued in 1896.
Six different Climax rubber cancels are known for Luxborough, four under Taunton and two under Washford. Below are examples of the last two types, from 1922 and 1927.
And finally Shoreditch which has two types of Climax rubber cancel recorded - below are examples of both types, which can be distinguished by the length of "TAUNTON" in the cancels.
Sunday, 2 July 2023
UDCs: Luxborough, Martock, Merriott
Some more UDCs starting with a couple of examples of the "LUXBOROUGH" udc which was issued in June 1858 under Taunton. Both examples are from 1858.
The "MARTOCK" udc was issued in September 1847 under South Petherton. It is known in blue from September 1849 to February 1851 in blue, with the example below currently being the only recorded example in black.
The cover below has a faint "MERRIOTT" udc in blue (indicated on the sheet below). The udc was issued in January 1852 under Ilminster and is currently the only example recorded. UDCs are both common and rare - whilst the handstamp shown below is the only recorded, it is likely that it would have been used at other times so it is not inherently rare - just difficult to find !
Wednesday, 8 February 2017
Alphabetic Tour H - L
... Hardington Mandeville, from 1917.
... Ilton from 1931.
... Kingsbury Episcopi, from 1905 and 1926.
... Kingston St. Mary, from 1981. I have previously shown UDCs from Kingston, before it became Kingston St. Mary in 1952.
... Luccombe, from 1980.
... and Luxborough, also from 1980















