1835 Penny Post from Bardon (near Washford) to Wiveliscombe

The entire below bears an unboxed "No.7" receiving house handstamp from Washford in the Taunton Penny Post dated 1835.  The "No.7" has very elongated serifs !

The contents, like a large number of surviving letters, is addressed to a solicitor, and is objecting to the size of the bill.

Fourpenny Uniform Post, Bardon near Washford to Chard, December 1839

 The Uniform Fourpenny Post was introduced on 5th December 1839 and lasted until 9th January 1840, when, at popular demand, the Uniform Penny Post was introduced earlier than planned.  Postage stamps (eg. the "Penny Black") were not introduced until the 6th May 1840.

The entire below was posted on 10th December 1839 and was charged 4d, rather than 1d for the Penny Post from Washford to Taunton (the local penny post that existed prior to 1840) plus 5d for Taunton to Chard in the General Post.

Undated Circular Handstamps - Washford, Williton

In this final batch of UDC handstamps here are two examples from Washford, one in black and one in a very bright red.

 

And lastly here are two UDC handstamps from Williton, one in red and one in black. Williton was issued with a numeric obliterator "777" in the 1844 list so perhaps would not have been expected to have a UDC handstamp.

Taunton Penny Post - unboxed "No.7"

Washford became a Receiving House in the reorganisation of the Taunton Penny Post and had the unboxed "No.7" handstamp.  The examples below are from 1829 to 1842 - it is one of the more common Receiving House handstamps !  I wish all the letters were written as clearly as the first example - the writing pictured below covered the whole of the sheet.

The entire below does not appear to have a "No.7" handstamp but went through the Taunton Penny Post and was written in Washford.

Main period sans-serif 25mm UDCs under Taunton - part 2

There were 48 offices under Taunton that had main period UDCs issued to them (one, Fitzhead, had two issued).

Bicknoller had its UDC issued on 22nd September 1845. Usage is known from the example below on 24th July 1851 to December 1854.

North-Curry also had its UDC issued on 22nd September 1845.  Usage is known in black from June 1846 to November 1850 and in blue from October 1852 to September 1855.  The examples below in black are from June 1846 and September 1847.

Stogumber also had its UDC issued on 22nd September 1845.  Usage is known in red (October 1845 to November 1851), Yellow (February 1848 to July 1849), Black (May 1849 to March 1858) and blue (December 1858).  The example below is dated May 1849 and is either in orange or faded red.

Washford again had its UDC issued on 22nd September 1845.  Usage is known in red from January 1846 to August 1851 and in black from December 1854 to August 1859.  The first example below in red is from December 1851, which extends the known usage.

 The following two examples in black are from November 1852 (earlier than previously known usage) and January 1853.

 

Williton's UDC was issued on 22nd September 1845, and is known used in red (between November 1845 and April 1848), blue (May 1849) and black (January 1851).  The example below is in red from December 1846.

Taunton Penny Posts - part 3

Continuing on the same track, here is an entire from 1831 with an unboxed "No.6" from the Williton Receiving House.  I've got a few questions about the postage marking of "6" (see the write-up).

A couple of examples of the unboxed "No.7" (Washford) from 1833 and 1836.

And finally an albino strike (so it is very difficult to see) of the unboxed "No.8" from the Trull Receiving House.  Was this strike albino because the Receiver had to pay for his own ink ?