On our way home from the spa we stopped in the small town of Haslemere in Surrey.
The first thing I noticed was this Penfold Postbox which I thought was an original but I then discovered it was a replica. Penfolds are the only letter boxes which Royal Mail has produced replicas of in this way. This one was installed in 1990 outside Penfold's former home. Penfold was born in 1828 and studied architecture and surveying. The Post Office had been attempting to standardise letter boxes throughout the country for some time but had not managed to establish a national standard. I 1866 Penfold submitted his design which was hexagonal in shape and highly decorative which made it very expensive to produce. The design was modified and became a popular postbox with many of its features initiated with the Penfold boxes remain in use today. Postboxes were initially green but these were the first to be produced from 1874 in red.
It was a very pleasant town with interesting shops, cafes and houses.
At the back of the town is the Town Well. It was used from medieval times until the late 19th century. this was one of two principal sources of water for the town. Haslemere's last public water carrier was Hannah Oakford who died in 1898. She charged a penny ha'penny per bucket to deliver water to houses in the town.
Lovely photos!
ReplyDeleteVery Interesting. I'm not sure that the post of "water carrier" would get many applicants if advertised today. Too much like hard work?
ReplyDeleteIt's a very interesting roof in the fourth photo down.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting history. I never heard of a water carrier before, but it makes sense.
ReplyDeleteLoving the post box, do you ever watch The Repair Shop? They were fixing one up last week on it.
ReplyDeleteThe outdoor eating area is so lovely to look at. Thanks for the tables, umbrellas and boxes of greenery.
ReplyDeleteEndless concrete is too harsh.
What a wonderful town, that's a truly amazing post, thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHugs coming your way
Daniela at ~ My little old world ~
Interesting snippets of history.
ReplyDeleteI love these little English towns ! And I learned something ! We had the "same" letterbox in front of our house ! They were very popular in our area !
ReplyDeleteThat is an inviting coffee shop .
ReplyDeleteI didn't know about that type of postbox. The only ones I know are the red ones.
ReplyDeleteLovely photographs.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't come across that type of post-box before.
Happy August Wishes.
All the best Jan
Poor Hannah! She must have been tired out from carrying all those buckets of water for a pittance each day. The outdoor seating at the coffee shop does look inviting.
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