WHEN DID YOU LAST POST A LETTER IN A POSTBOX – WESTMORELAND STREET
I like these old style postboxes and I hope that they are never removed them even when they are no longer used by the public. Can you think of another use for them?
The Letter-Carrier System: Prior to 1840 posting letters in Ireland was operated under a letter-carrier system. To deliver a letter the letter-carrier had to knock at the door, wait until it was answered and then wait until the money was found for the postage. This was a slow business. With the introduction of pre-paid postage, it was suggested that everyone should cut a slit for letters in their front door. At first people objected to cutting slits in their mahogany doors, but by the early 1850s most people had conformed.
Uniform Penny Postage was introduced in 1840: There was a rapid growth of correspondence following the introduction of uniform penny postage in 1840. Between the years 1839 and 1842 the quantity of Irish letters increased from 9 million to over 24 million a year. This dramatic increase put a considerable strain on the letter-carriers who not only delivered, but also collected letters.
In England, there was a similar problem and the Post Office decided to follow France’s example and provide road-side posting boxes. A trial of the setting up of four post boxes was carried out in Jersey in 1852. They were so successful that the scheme extended to mainland England and then Ireland received its first roadside letter boxes in 1855. Five boxes were erected in Belfast, Ballymena and Dublin. The Dublin box, rectangular in shape, may be seen in the National Museum. By early 1857 there were pillar boxes in the more prominent parts of Irish cities. At the same time the Post Office started wall boxes in Ireland.
The Handyside Pillar Box was introduced in 1879. Complaints about letters being caught up and delayed by faults in the internal construction of the hexagonal boxes resulted in the decision in 1874 to adopt the cylindrical shaped boxes, not only because of their superiority in capacity, but also because of their greater economy both as regards their costs and repairs. The successful iron-founder was Handyside of Derby. Distribution of cylindrical boxes commenced in March 1879. At first, the new boxes had their horizontal posting aperture very close to the roof, causing large letters and newspapers to become lodged in the top of the boxes. Lowering the aperture a few inches therefore amended the design.
Surprisingly enough, it was not until November 1887, that it was realised that the new cylindrical boxes did not bear the Royal Cypher or indeed any indication that they were Post Office property. By the end of the year a new design incorporating the Royal Cypher on the door and the words “Post Office” on the collar below the rim of the roof, had been approved. No radical change in the external design of the cylindrical pillar boxes has taken place since their adoption in 1879. It is the various ciphers utilized through time that makes postboxes identifiable.
Most of the early pillar boxes were painted dark bronze green throughout the United Kingdom, but in 1874 the Post Office decided to make pillar boxes more obvious by painting them a striking royal red. With Independence the Irish Post Office changed the colour to green.
The Custom House in Dublin is regarded as one of the jewels in the city’s architectural crown. A masterpiece of European neo-classicism, it took 10 years to build and was completed in 1791. It cost the then not inconsiderable sum of 200,000 sterling.
It was the greatest achievement of James Gandon who had been brought over from England to carry out the work. Gandon had been chosen by John Beresford, Chief Revenue Commissioner and a small coterie of the Irish ascendency who were then in the process of enhancing the streets and public buildings of Dublin.
The sculptures which are located in various parts of the building were by the famous Irish sculptor, Edward Smyth.
Initially the building was exclusively the headquarters of the Commissioners of Custom and Excise; however by the beginning of the twentieth century, the dominant role of the Custom House was in relation to local government. The building was burnt to the ground on 25 May, 1921 during the Irish War of Independence; restoration work was competed by 1928.
A second programme of restoration began in the 1980s and was completed in time for the bi-centenary of the Custom House in 1991.
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