Somerset & Bristol Postal History

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.

First a double circle double-arc "PORTISHEAD / BRISTOL" cancel from 1936, although the circles are not clear.  The envelope was addressed to "The Hospital, Amsterdam" but the addressee was not found so it was returned to Portishead.

Next a Field Post Office registered envelope to Portishead with a "PORTISHEAD / BRISTOL" single ring receiving mark from 1946.  The sender was in Schleswig Holstein.

And finally a BT Maritime Radiotelex envelope from Portishead Radio, Highbridge, with a "HIGHBRIDGE / SOMERSET" meter mark from 1989.

The item below is from Crewkerne to Bath but was "Accidentally dropped on way to postbox during snow storm" as a result of which the postage stamp came off.  It received a cachet for 6d to pay but the recipient may not have had to pay as there are no postage due stamps.

The recipient of the next item, a postcard from Highbridge, did have to pay postage due.  The postcard opens to show a number of views of Burnham-on-Sea and as a result should have been franked for the Letter rate.

The unboxed "No.3" receiving house handstamp in the Bridg(e)water Penny Post is thought to have been at Highbridge, and the handstamp is known in use from 1842 to 1845.  The example below is to Bristol in February 1843.

The Evercreech UDC was issued under Shepton Mallet on 24th September 1844 and is currently known used from 14th August 1846 (the cover below) to 3rd January 1848.

This Highbridge UDC was issued on 22nd May 1846 and is  known used from July 1846 to May 1854.  A second UDC was issued in November 1848 and a third late format one was issued in 1858.

It's nice to get postcards with nice postmarks and pictures of the place that the postmark comes from - here is one from Crewkerne showing Station Road ...

here is one from Highbridge ...

... and one from Norton Fitzwarren.

With the outbreak of the Second World War, the British Army were in desperate need of modern logistics facilities, positioned with easy access to the major port and transport facilities, yet away from the major Nazi-Luftwaffe targets.

Norton Fitzwarren is on the former Bristol and Exeter Railway mainline, which was operated and then taken over by the GWR in 1890. The station became an important junction station, with access within an hour to:

• North: Bristol, Cardiff and Gloucester, then onwards to the industrial Midlands
• South: Exeter, and hence to HMNB Devonport
• East: Yeovil and the LSWR mainline, onwards to all of the major south coast ports, including Portsmouth and Southampton
• West: branch lines to Minehead and Barnstaple

Resultantly, the station for a relatively small village was quite extensive, having two island platforms creating four platforms. Thanks also to the extensive local silk mills, there were also extensive existing freight handling facilities within the Fairwater Yard, a large regional freight yard located south of the mainline.

A Miscellany of items for the New Year, in alphabetical order starting with a Chard mileage mark from 1829 with a crossed-out inspector's mark and charge correction.

An item from Dulverton to Mr Hancock (the solicitor) near Wiveliscombe with a Tiverton Penny Post handstamp.

An Airgraph sent to Highbridge for Christmas 1944.

A rather messy entire from Somerton to Yeovil with a blurred Maltese Cross and a blurred double-arc dated handstamp from 1841.

And finally a Wellington two-bar vertical oval obliterator, not in Parmenter, used to cancel a wrapper that was probably sent to Weston-super-Mare as Printed Matter.