I love these small post office boxes that are embedded into walls around the UK. They are not as common as they used to be in days gone by. This one is in a wall on Primrose Bank, Bingley, Yorkshire.
Here in England you can get an idea of how old a post box is from the use of the Royal Cypher on post boxes, this one you can see has EIIR. This cypher is the one used by our current monarch Queen Elizabeth II, the Royal Cyper is the sovereign's monogram or the initials of their name and title, usually surmounted by a crown.
There are still some post boxes with the VR Cypher for Queen Victoria who reigned 20 June 1837– 22 January 1901.
Royal Mail is responsible for universal mail collection and delivery in the UK. Letters are deposited in a pillar or wall box, taken to a post office, or collected in bulk from businesses. Deliveries are made at least once every day except Sundays and Bank Holidays at uniform charges for all destinations within the UK. Today it is struggling to make a profit, I personally see the mail as a service and not a profit operation. In the effort to become profitable they have shut many post offices and intend to close many more.
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Lovely photo and really interesting story.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful.
ReplyDeleteNice splash of color against the stone wall! Here in the US, the postal service is having the same fiscal problems. They are talking about not delivering mail on Saturdays, among other things.
ReplyDeletePost office boxes are often great to photograph, especially the one you have in the UK. Ours are too modern to be any good for that purpose.
ReplyDeleteI know this post box, and remember horse troughs set in walls in Bingley from molly Canada
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