Post boxes

[ctesiphon]

Embarrassing confession time- I have a pic of the box, but it's only a close-up. I (unforgivably) didn't take a context shot. As soon as I get it scanned, I'll stick it up anyway, but I'm preparing you for disappointment. Still, I guarantee it's in Monaghan, and it's certainly an SE box.

Edit:

Here it is. From memory, the street it's on slopes down from left to right, and I think it was on a building no higher than 2 storeys, maybe even only one, that was near a junction (out of shot to the right). The building was a little the worse for wear, so I wouldn't be surprised to hear the box had been moved since 1999. In fact, it would seem from the pic that the box is on the 'seam' between two buildings.
If you can't read it, the text along the bottom seems to say 'LESSON DAVIS ENNISCORTHY'.

[Paul Clerkin]

Okay left to right slop suggests market street, mill street, dublin street, glaslough street..

i think we can rule out mill street as the post office is there with its own postboxes..

junction to the right suggests market street, near the market house, or the stretch to top of dawson street.... or towards bottom of glaslough and dublin streets

[Paul Clerkin]

Craetegus you're going to have to go for a walk at lunchtime some day to check....

[fergalr]

Only noticed because of this thread, but the post box out in howth opposite the Garda station is an oldie. Not in the best state either :/





And, with apologies for not putting these up remotely as soon as I said I would, here's photos of one near UCD. A 'posts and telegraphs' one with that lovely cipher.





Are there many VR boxes left in the country, out of interest? Or Saorstat ones?

[corcaighboy]

Just in case any of you missed Kite's post in the Developments in Cork thread, I have attached a link of it here and reproduced the text below. Should be of interest to readers of this thread too.

http://www.archiseek.com/content/showpost.php?p=58705&postcount=468

The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH) survey to Cork City Council identifies just over 2000 structures in and around the City Centre, which have been recommended for designation as Protected Structures by the Minister for the Environment, Heritage & Local Government of which approximately 500 are already included in the Record of Protected Structures (the RPS)
The NIAH inventory of Cork City identified a total of 38 post boxes within the city which have been recommended by the Minister for addition to the Record of Protected Structures. A survey has been carried out and it was found that 36 of these still survive, underlining the need for the protection of these remaining historic streetscape features. Description:
These post boxes are of two types, either wall-mounted boxes with flat fronts, or freestanding pillar boxes. They are made of cast iron and date from various eras. Many carry royal insignia on their fronts which can be used to date them as follows:
VR-Victoria Regina-c. 1859-1901.
ER VII – Edward Rex VII – 1901-1910.
GR-George Rex-1910-20.
Others carry early Irish state insignia such as the following:
SE – Saorstat Eireann – c. 1930
P & T – Posts and Telegraphs – c. 1950.
An unusual post box has both an ER to its letter-box cover and an SE to its door.

Appraisal
These post boxes have been assessed as having value as functional industrial design and are significant as a group. Not only do they demonstrate the range of changes in the decorative detail of cast-iron post boxes from Victorian times to the latter part of the twentieth century, they also chart the political changes in the governance of the country and make a distinctive contribution to the character of older urban areas. They have been accorded ‘Architectural’, ‘Artistic’, ‘Social’ and ‘Technical’ special interest in accordance with the Planning and Development Act 2000.

[GrahamH]

Why not Historical too I wonder - indeed how is Historical defined by the NIAH I wonder?

Delightful Edwardian pillar box here outside the National Museum on Kildare Street in Dublin.



The perfect middle-size pillar.

Further down at the street's northern entrance is a large double Posts and Telegraphs box, a number of which were erected throughout the city centre at strategic locations presumably at the same time. A mirror-image position can be noted on Dawson Street, while others are to be found on St. Stephen's Green and O'Connell Street - always at junctions with other streets.

Here is the Kildare Street box before and after its recent repainting.




Alas the box is already in almost as poor condition just months after the work was carried out, covered in dirty smears, stickers and papery residues, while the paint has been chipped off from all of the relief work to the same extent as depicted in the first image. What a shame.
Indeed mere days after the city centre boxes were painted, the vast majority were covered in stickers and graffiti. Nearly every single one. I couldn't believe how quickly they were all defaced.

[kite]

Irish Examiner 19 January 2007

Our heritage to be sealed for posterity

By Conor Ryan
MOVES are afoot to protect one of the most enduring gifts Ireland gave the British Empire.


The future of the once-red but now green pillar post box, the inspiration of an Ireland-based postal inspector, is to be secured.

Pat Ruane, Cork City’s conservation officer, said 47 pillar post boxes would be included on its list of protected structures.

“We are not only looking to protect houses and architecture but also items like post boxes that carry their own history. It is not all post boxes, just the cast metal ones that have historical value. It really says something that these are still functioning, for what they were made for. They are the type of thing you can walk past every day but when they go you know something’s missing.

“They do tell their own history. You can see through the years they carried different insignia of Queen Victoria first, then King Edward and King George, but since Irish independence you see the SÉ stamp for the Free State or the Post and Telegraph crest.”

The city’s conservation officials have also added another non-building to the list: the lime kiln in the gardens of Orchard Road which was used by the Jennings Mineral Water Company.

The preservation list includes one of the country’s oldest post boxes at Kent Station, which was installed in 1857 shortly after British Post Office began installing the free-standing boxes, which were the brainchild of Ireland-based inspector, Anthony Trollope.

He was among Britain’s leading novelists in the mid-19th century but spent most of his early working life as a postal inspector in Ireland.

His time here inspired most of his early novels and his famous invention. He wrote: “It was altogether a very jolly life that I led in Ireland. The Irish people did not murder me, nor did they break my head. I soon found them to be good- humoured, clever, economical and hospitable.”

Today his designs remain as remnants of the British Empire, but although the older boxes were originally red they were painted green after the War of Independence.

The city council is inviting people to offer their views on the proposal to protect the post boxes and other historical sites by writing to Director of Services Kevin Terry before February 28.

[corcaighboy]

Saw this post box (admittedly not a post office one) in the SAS Radisson Hotel in Stillorgan recently. Quite unusual as it made out of wood. Have no idea if it is a replica although I imagine not. Have no more details on it alas...
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/8885/p1020031kd4.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" /></a>

[Craetegus]

Sometimes post boxes are right under your nose! I have walked past the "lost" one in Monaghan countless times without actually registering its presence. It is opposite the corner of the Market House, down a few doors from the well known Andy's public house, and shamedly close to my place of work. I caught a glimpse of the green today out of the corner of my eye, and well when I saw the SE felt a little bemused for not seeing it all before.

[Paul Clerkin]

It's in pretty good condition

[wearnicehats]

If you can't read it, the text along the bottom seems to say 'LESSON DAVIS ENNISCORTHY'.

Does it say JESSOP Davis? I can't find anything on t'internet except a reference to a guy called Jessop who had a partner called Davis who owned an iron foundry in York, Pensylvannia.

From the Enniscorthy Trades Directory in 1931 there was a bloke called Davis T Jessop who was an Iron Founder / Engineer in St. John's Iron Works

[Paul Clerkin]

Yeah it's Jessop Davis alright.
They also made water pumps I believe.

Found on a genelogical site - so might be related

THOMAS JESSOP DAVIS Of Clashleigh Clogheen Son Of T. JESSOP DAVIS Of Fairfield Enniscorthy, Died 6 August 1954.

[Paul Clerkin]

I see from this record, that they were still in operation in the 1970s
http://www.buildingsofireland.ie/niah/search.jsp?type=record&county=ME®no=14007054

[kleyden]

In reply to the query which started this very interesting thread, there are indeed several "GR" versions of the old GPO pillarbox in Dublin, the most central being directly outside the old Bewley's cafe on Westmoreland Street. These are indeed rare because fo the prolifration of Edwardian boxes which were placed in the city from 1908-1911. As has already been pointed out, the Royal Cypher was not replaced with the city seal after 1922, but with the "SE" cypher and later the "P&T" cypher. The latter is very common - the former is really only found on wall boxes and another example can be found at the corner of Booterstown and Cross Avenues.

[ctesiphon]

There was a letter in the Daily Mail last week about post boxes. I couldn't find it online, but in searching I did come across this story: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-528838/A-class-collection-190-postboxes-theyre-kept-garden.html

And I managed to hang onto the clipping of the letter anyway. If anyone wants a higher res version, let me know, but I think this should be legible.



(Apologies if it's sideways- I changed the orientation in Photobucket but it seems not to have taken effect yet. Or maybe it's just my cookies.)

Also, Paul- re your last post above, from past experience I'd say take the NIAH dating of boxes with a grain of salt. It's not really the most exact of sciences, given the longevity of the designs.

[gunter]

Came across this VR pillar box on the platform of Portarlington's charming Victorian train station earlier today.


for anyone who's interested in that kind of thing.

[ctesiphon]

Tidying up the memory card I stumbled across these, taken a couple of weeks ago in Kent Station in Cork.

1857, apparently.

[bosco]

A little bit more (slightly embellished) background on the one above in Kent Station, Cork:

http://peoplesrepublicofcork.com/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=861

[Radioactiveman]

Shame the Kent Station box is surrounded by so much clutter.

Saw this post box (admittedly not a post office one) in the SAS Radisson Hotel in Stillorgan recently. Quite unusual as it made out of wood. Have no idea if it is a replica although I imagine not. Have no more details on it alas...
<a href="http://imageshack.us"><img src="http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/8885/p1020031kd4.jpg" border="0" alt="Image Hosted by ImageShack.us" /></a>

Up until a few days ago, there existed an old wooden post box in the Student Centre at University College Cork. It has recently been removed and replaced with a hideous plastic replacement. Unfortunately I have no image of the boxes in question, but if anybody else does, please post.

[Diem]

Thomas Jessop Davis (1864-1946) began his industrial career with the family-owned Saint John's Mills (established 1858), a corn mill water mill on the outskirts of Enniscorthy which ceased operation in 1989: the derelict mill (1885) - cleared of the grain silos introduced in 1935 and 1954 - was recently the subject of a planning application for development as an apartment complex-hotel scheme.

A trained engineer, Davis opened an ironworks in the grounds of the corn mill in 1890 but moved the business to the purpose-built Saint John's Ironworks and Foundry on the opposite side of the Urrin River in 1908. The ironworks closed down in 1962 although some of the buildings survive, again derelict.

As well as "wall box" and the rarer "lamp box" post boxes, for which the ironworks apparently superseded W.T. Allen and Co. London (fl. 1881-1955) and A. [Andrew] Handyside and Co. (fl. 1853-1933) respectively as primary suppliers, the Jessop Davis stamp is seen on manhole covers and waterpumps throughout County Wexford and the neighbouring counties.

[trace]

According to the Colne Valley Postal Museum Trust in Essex http://www.cvphm.org/ForeignBoxes.html: "The Folk Museum at Daingean County Offaly has a National standard and a Penfold - both in red. These are the only red boxes left south of the 1922 border. Collins Barracks outstation of National Museum of Ireland has the only surviving Ashworth of Burnley PB1, whilst the only Economy London Ornate is to be found inside Kent Railway Station in Cork."

[dc3]

I have noticed in recent days that several of the wall boxes in the Belfield area seem to be now out of service, with a piece of wood blocking the letter slot. Looks like some have been out of use for some time. Is there a plan to reduce / remove wall boxes?

There are no prominent signs applied to indicate whether this is a permanent or a temporary measure, indeed there is just a scrawl on one box. Neither is there any indication of where close by in service boxes still are, for customers.

[Pilear]

one of those hexagonal boxs was out in bray near the garda station until about a month ago when a council van backed into it smashing it to bits

[db3]

Re: post boxes, is anybody familiar with the old post office in Donabate, Co. Dublin. This is now a barber shop but there are still two post boxes (wall type) there less than 10 feet apart. I was wondering is there any story behind the boxes, what type the boxes are etc.

The barber shop was featured in a programme about the recession on TV3 which is when I spotted the boxes, I think at least one of them is a VR. I googled the barbers and found this
http://www.daft.ie/searchcommercial.daft?id=45317

[KeepAnEyeOnBob]

According to the Colne Valley Postal Museum Trust in Essex http://www.cvphm.org/ForeignBoxes.html: "The Folk Museum at Daingean County Offaly has a National standard and a Penfold - both in red. These are the only red boxes left south of the 1922 border.

There's a postbox in red in the Bunratty Folk Park, Co. Clare.