Somerset & Bristol Postal History

From 1890 into the 1920s, Climax rubber cancels were prevalent in village post offices.  The cancels always had a date across the middle in a 'day MMM. YY' format. The early ones were in violet ink while later ones were in black.  Severely distorted cancels occur when the wrong ink had been used by the postmaster.  [Annoyingly some eBay sellers refer to this type of cancel as 'skeletons', a pain when you want to search for real 'skeletons'].

Here are a couple of examples, the first is from Drayton in violet in 1907.

Th second is from Donyatt in black in May 1920.

Moving on to the "D"s we get to Ditcheat, about six miles south of Shepton Mallet.  The postcards below have "DITCHEAT" single ring cancels from 1906 and 1911.  The post office closed in 2008.

This next postcard is from Draycott in 1907, with a "DRAYCOTT / CHEDDAR R.S.O SOMERSET" single ring cancel.  Draycott had come under Cheddar Railway Sub-Office in 1865.  The post office stopped using the R.S.O. terminology in 1905 but use of this handstamp carried on.

The (philatelic) registered envelope below has "DRAYTON / LANGPORT . SOMERSET" 'Birmingham' cancels from 1975

Dundry is five miles south-west of Bristol - the sheet below shows postmarks from 1909, 1931 and 1980.  The post office in Dundry closed in 1995.