Highbridge (1989), Curland (1991), Chard (1997), Staplegrove (2002, 2005) and Shepton Beauchamp (2008)

A miscellany of items to clear the decks for Christmas, starting with a large registered envelope from  Highbridge in April 1989.

The receipt below are certificates of posting for registered letters from Curland in October 1991.

The unfranked letter below, to Chard, was charged a handling fee on top of the deficient fee in June 1997 - in this case it made no difference to the amount to pay.

As I've said below, it is quite difficult to get cancels from town sub-offices:  here are a couple from Staplegrove, Taunton in 2002 and 2005.

And finally another Certificate of Posting, this one from Shepton Beauchamp in May 2008.

Miscellany: Porlock, Staplegrove, Wells

Another random mixture starting with a registered cover from Porlock in December 1854 with "PORLOCK / MINEHEAD SOMERSET" single ring cancels.  Nothing very special about this cover other than it extended the date of usage in my draft Catalogue of Somerset Postal History.

Staplegrove is a Town Sub-Office of Taunton, but at the time of the card below (1904) it was a rural post office, becoming a TSO in 1938.

The envelope below would have been prepaid in the USA but being posted in the UK needed to be franked.  It was from the Mendip Hospital and has an English student number written on the front.

It is franked with three QEII 1/- Wilding stamps - I haven't managed to match this with the postal rates yet (help gratefully received).  The overseas Registration rate appears to have been 1/9d from 1st July 1963, leaving 1/3d for the postage.  There is no indication that it went Air Mail so using the surface rate from 1st October 1957 that matches a 9oz letter to an Empire destination.  If the letter was overfranked it could match  a 3oz Foreign letter at 1/2d.