Somerset & Bristol Postal History

Cross is just west of Axbrige and was a Post Town becaust it was on the cross Post Road.  The first items below are from 1840, after the introduction of the Uniform Penny Post, and whows the "CROSS" double arc dated handstamp in black (February) and in red (June).  Red ink had been introduced to cancel the penny black stamp issued in May 1840.

Cross also had had a local Penny Post.  The items below are from after 1840, so the local Penny Post was no longer in operation, but the receiving house handstamps continued to be in use in the absence of any other issued handstamp.  The first one below from April 1842 has a small boxed "No.7" handstamp, possibly from Mark.

The next example from September 1843 has a large "No.7" handstamp.  Both this and the previous item were written in Wedmore.

The next two items have small boxed "No.9" handstamps, thought to be from Wedmore and were written in Stoughton Cross, a mile north of Wedmore.  The item below is from September 1844.

The final item is dated August 1845.

Here are two further receiving house handstamps used in the Cross Penny Post, starting with a boxed "No.10" handstamp.  The receiving house is believed to be in East Brent, where ths entire below was written.  This is a late example from 1849 (well after the end of the Penny Posts in 1840).

The final example is an unboxed "No.12" receiving house handstamp used in February 1839 (so during the actual Penny Post period).  It was written in Hutton Vicarage and it is likely that the receiving house was either in Hutton or in nearby Locking.

Skipping ahead a few numbers from the previous post, Wedmore had the boxed "No.9" receiving house handstamp.  The entire below was written at Sand, a hamlet about a mile south of Wedmore.

We don't know where the large unboxed "No.7" receiving house handstamp was used.  Below are two examples, both bearing the name of the Revd. Kempthorne in the filing notes.  Revd. John Kempthorn was the vicar of Wedmore from 1827 until his death in 1876, and is recorded in the 1841 census as living in Wedmore.

A Penny Post was established at Cross in 1827 after the establishment of a new Mail Coach from Bristol to Bridgwater.  Cross was only a tiny place but it was at a point where the new coach road crossed a minor road from Axbridge to Weston-super-Mare.

A number of the receiving houses in the Cross Penny Post are difficult to place, though the first few are quite clear.  Axbridge had the boxed "No.1" receiving house handstamp, often used in blue alongside a straight-line "AXBRIDGE" handstamp.

Places often continued to use their Penny Post receiving house handstamp as receiving marks even after the introduction of the uniform penny post and the abolition of Penny Posts.

Weston-super-Mare had the boxed "No.2" receiving house handstamp, ...

Receiving House handstamps continued to be used after the abolition of the local Penny Posts when the Uniform Penny Post was introduced in 1840.  They were generally used as despatch marks in the local village post offices, and this continued until the more general introduction of the undated circular handstamps from 1844.

The wrapper below has an unboxed "No.1" receiving house handstamp and went through Cross to Bewdley.  One would normally look to the wrapper originating wherever the unboxed "No.1" handstamp had been in use but no unboxed "No.1" handstamp is recorded in use in the Cross Penny Post.  There was however a boxed "No.1" handstamp that was used at Axbridge.

The wrapper has a filing note of "Mr John Bulls Receipt" and Pigot's Directory of 1844 has a John Bull as a Tin-Plate worker in "Chedder".  Both Cheddar and Axbridge were in the Cross Penny Post so either are potential locations for the unboxed "No.1" receiving house handstamp.

Here are two examples of post from Axbridge, the first in 1827 is in the Wells Penny Post, and the second in 1832 is in the Cross Penny Post.

The Cross Penny Post came into being in 1827 as a result of the establishment of a mail coach from Bristol to Bridg(e)water.  Cross took over receiving houses from Bristol (Hutton, Uphill, Weston and Worle) and from Wells (Axbridge and Cheddar).

The entire, below, from March 1841, is from Wedmore to Weston-super-Mare and has a boxed "No.9" receiving house handstamp.  The receiving house handstamps continued to be used to indicate where mail was posted, even after the introduction of the Uniform Penny Post (and the end of the local Penny Posts).

Here are two recently acquired examples of the Cross Penny Post, both from 1835.  This first one is from August 1835 and is from Weston-super-Mare with a poor boxed "No.2" receiving house handstamp.  This is one of the more common receiving house marks in the Cross Penny Post.

This next example is from June 1835 and was written at Uphill.  I think it has a boxed "No.5" receiving house handstamp but it is impossible to be 100% sure because the handstamp was over-inked. 

The assignment of some of the receiving house handstamps in the Cross Penny Post is difficult because there are few examples.  It was previously thought that "No.5" could be Sidcot and that Uphill could be "No.8" - unfortunately this example is not clear enough to make a definitive statement that Uphill was "No.5".

The Receiving House at Cheddar used the boxed "No.4" handstamp firstly in the Wells Penny Post from 1816 and then in the Cross Penny Post after it was established in 1827.  The undated item below went in the Cross Penny Post from Cheddar ("No.4") to Banwell (which had the boxed "No.3" handstamp).

Because the "Cross / Penny Post" is in blue/green, the piece must date from 1837-1839.

Wedmore had the boxed "No.9" receiving house handstamp in the Cross Penny Post.  Here is an example from November 1840 in red.

Continuing the UDC theme, this next sheet has two examples of the Cross UDC, from December 1827 and February 1838, spanning the first period of recorded usage.  From 1839 to 1840 Cross used a double arc dated handstamp, before reverting back to using its UDC from 1842 to 1850.

This next UDC is from East Harptree in June 1849, being another early serif-type UDC.

Enmore had two UDC handstamps, this example from October 1859 being currently the only recorded example of the second one which was issued in December 1855.

Below is the the latest known used example of the late format Huntspill UDC, from February 1859.

Here is a boxed "No.4" handstamp in the Crewkerne Penny Post from 1831.  The "No.4" handstamp was in use at Haselbury.

Next are a couple of items associated with the Cross Penny Post, starting with a boxed "No.3" handstamp from 1833.  Banwell was in the Wells Penny Post from 1823, and then in the Cross Penny Post which was established in 1827, and used the boxed "No.3" handstamp in both Penny Posts.

This next cover is from Wedmore, with a large unboxed "No.7" and a "CROSS" UDC from January 1845.

Weston-super-Mare had the boxed "No.2" receiving house handstamp in the Cross Penny Post.  Here is an example from September 1831.

Dunster had the boxed "No.4" receiving house handstamp in the Taunton Fifth Clause Post up to 1828 (Mr Luttrell of Dunster Castle objecting to any conversion to Penny Post because he would then have to pay for his newspapers' delivery in the post).  This example is from April 1825.

Here is an example of the Dunster undated circular handstamp from August 1846 with the date written in manuscript inside the handstamp.

This pre-printed insturance letter was initially sent to "Wells, Somerset or Stratton near Chilcompton, Bath" and then returned from Old Down to London in July 1830.

Here is an entire with a fairly faint example of the Cross Undated Circular handstamp (UDC) from 1836, with a manuscript "not" written in it to indicate that the entire has been missent to Cross.

A few examples of Receiving House handstamps in the Cross Penny Post, starting with the boxed "No.1" from Axbridge from 1831.  This also has straight-line "AXBRIDGE" and framed "Cross / Penny Post" handstamps.

Next a boxed "No.2" from Weston-super-Mare from 1836, with an unframed "Cross / Penny Post" handstamp.

And finally a boxed "No.10" from South Brent from 1841.

The Cross UDC was the earliest of this format to be introduced, with the entry in the Steel Impression Book on 26th September 1827.  It had two periods of use, from 1827 to 1838, and from 1842 to 1850, with a handstamp of a similar format but with a date being used from 1839 to 1841.

Around the time that the dated handstamp stopped being used (1841-2), Cross stopped being a Post Town and came under Wells (and thus didn't need a dated handstamp as the dated handstamp would have come from Wells, its Post Town).

I haven't found an example of the Cross UDC from the earlier (1827-1838) period.

Here's an example of the dated handstamp from the 1839-1841 period, this example from February 1841.

And here are some examples of the Cross UDC from the later (1842-1850) period.  First, from July 1842, is an entire with a very faint Cross UDC on the reverse (above the stamp) and an unboxed "No.7" handstamp, possibly from Mark.

Here's an example from January 1846, with the boxed "No.10" of South Brent.

I've shown this example fairly recently, with a large unboxed "No.7" from July 1846, which may possibly be the "No.7" from the Bridgwater Penny Post.

The location of the Receiving House with the boxed "No.7" handstamp in the Cross Penny Post is not known for sure - an example is known used in 1829 from Theale, midway between Wedmore (which had the "No.9" handstamp) and Mark, so it has been postulated in the S&DPHG Journal that it was used in Mark.

In 1843 and 1846 examples of large unboxed "No.7" handstamps are known, all bearing a "CROSS" undated circle handstamp.  It has not been known where this handstamp was used.

An example below that I acquired recently has a manuscript address of Burnham, which was not in the Cross Penny Post (it was in the Bridgwater PP).  Strangely the entire, if actually posted in Burnham, has gone via Cross to Wells (which at this time was the Post Town for Cross) and thence to Bridgwater - definitely the long way round.  The entire talks about sending some forms that were to be printed either via the railway or via the postman.  In 1846, the only railway from Bridgwater was the Bristol & Exeter line that went via Highbridge, just over a mile from Burnham, so this is consistent with the entire coming from Burnham.

On the basis of this entire I postulate that Burnham was "No.7" in the Bridgwater Penny Post, and that the large unboxed "No.7" handstamp came from this usage (rather than from the Cross Penny Post).  That would explain where the handstamp came from BUT does not explain why the entire might have gone from Burnham via Cross and Wells to Bridgwater, rather than going directly (and much quicker).

Axbridge had the "No.1" Receiving House mark (see earlier post). Here's an example of the "Crofs / Penny Post" cancel with the "No.2" Receiving House mark of Weston-super-Mare.
The 1841 entire below is addressed from Lympsham and cancelled with a boxed "No.9" Receiving House mark.

Axbridge had a Fifth Clause Post from Bristol in 1805, then transferred to the Wells Penny Post in 1816.  Here's an example of the boxed "No.5" cancel from 1823.
In 1827 it became part of the newly established Cross Penny Post.  The example below, with a boxed "No.1" cancel, is from 1830.

An "AXBRIDGE" straight line cancel carried on in use until 1849.  The examples above are of the second type (40x4 mm) while the one below is of the third type (36x4 mm).
Finally a single-ring cancel from 1903 on a postcard showing a view of the centre of Axbridge.