Somerset & Bristol Postal History

Taunton also had a Penny Post but not as large as Bristol's.  It was originally a Fifth Clause Post but converted to a Penny Post quite soon.  The item below has the boxed "No.2" receiving house handstamp used a Monksilver and dates from July 1817.

The boxed "No.3" receiving house handstamp was in use at Torre.  The Norwich Union Insurance form below was sent in August 1825.

The free front below has an unboxed "No.5" receiving house handstamp which is thought to be from Bicknoller.  The date looks like 1830 but unfortunately the address is indecipherable.

The entire below from April 1833 has unboxed handstamps from Trull ("No.8") and Blagdon Hill ("No.9").
The Penny Post handstamp continued to be used after the introduction of the uniform penny post.  The entire below is from Creech St Michael and has an unboxed "No.11" receiving house handstamp.

Here are a random selection of Skeletons (should that be a "rattle" of skeletons ?) that I have recently acquired, starting with Burnham from November 1916 ...

... Chard from January 1925 ...

 ... Shepton Mallet from August 1916 ...

... Street and Glastonbury (two skeletons for the price of one !) from December 1921 ...

... Trull from June 1909 ...

... Uphill from March 1913 ...

... and Wincanton from March 1920.

First a Stowey UDC in red from February 1849.  It is known in red from August 1846 to May 1849.

Next a Stowey UDC in  blue-green from September 1855.  This is the example that was recorded as being in green but could have been in blue bearing in mind the discolouration of other handstamps on the entire.  Whichever colour the UDC is (blue or green), it is currently the latest known example.

This Trull UDC from December 1852 in black is currently the only known example.

An finally a small Winsford UDC from March 1858 in blue.  This is currently the latest known example.

The Receiving House with the unboxed "No.9" handstamp should be Churchinford, however there is evidence that the Receiver there was not an official Post Office receiver until 1839 (when the previous unofficial receiver was trying to get the job as an official receiver).

This first entire has both the unboxed "No.8" and unboxed "No.9" handstamps.  The only reason I can think why this should happen is if the Receiver at Trull, which is up the road to Churchinford, held the "No.9" handstamp as well as the "No.8" one, because the Churchinford Receiver wasn't official.

My only other example of the "No.9" unboxed handstamp is from July 1839, so would be after an official Receiver was appointed.

Trull had the unboxed "No.8" Receiving House handstamp.  Most of the mail was from Gatchell.




This last handstamp does not show up as it's almost inkless - was this because the Receivers had to pay for their own ink ?

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 ?