Just going to post a letter ... Do you ever think how easy it is nowadays to do this? There's usually a familiar red box not too far away. It was not always this easy. Although there has been a state postal service since 1635 the "Post Office" was often a room at an inn. In 1794 the introduction of the Mail Coach opened up new routes and the sound of the "post horn" summoned attention for a quick change of horses. Letters were paid for by the recipient based on the number of miles travelled. It was not until Rowland Hill introduced the idea of a prepaid adhesive stamp in 1840 that the need for a post box arose.
If you wish to do this walk, we have put together a map detailing the route (link to external site which opens in a new window) which the following directions relate to.
With the car park on your left, walk along Church Road until you come to a double aperture E II R box.
This was put here in 1993 when the main Post Office closed. Continue along Church Road and bear left into Woodthorpe Road. At the mini roundabout cross over and enter Station Approach.
On the corner near the station entrance was a George V (GR) post box, but it has recently been replaced with an E II R box. This part of Ashford owes its existence to the coming of the railway in 1848.
Before that, village life was around the Parish Church and the Town Tree. Ashford Station was build in 1857 so that Prince Albert could travel by special train in order to open the Welsh Girls School, then later known as St David's and is now the St James Independent School for Senior Boys. The station has remained virtually unchanged.
Leave Station Approach and return to Woodthorpe Road. Turn right and continue along Woodthorpe Road carefully crossing Stanwell Road. "The Retreat", the house on the corner, was at one time the home of Charlie Adamson, a Turf Accountant, who claimed to have invented the "Tic Tac" system of signalling used on racecourses.
Cross over Woodthorpe Road towards St Hilda's Church and turn right. Just past the church gates is an George V (GR) post box.
Continue along Woodthorpe Road passing the Salvation Army Hall. Follow the road round the bend and cross Chesterfield Road to the Sub Post Office and a George VI box (G VI R). Refreshments can be obtained here if required.
Return to the apex of the bend, cross Woodthorpe Road and take the footpath that runs between the site of the old Remand Home and the Ashford Tennis Club.
Follow it over the bridge over the railway line. Good views of the area can be obtained from the bridge. Follow the road around to the right and enter Queen's Walk.
At the junction of Queen's Walk and Tudor Close turn left into Connaught Avenue.
Follow this to Station Crescent and turn left. At this junction is one of the earliest boxes in Ashford an Edward VII (E VII R).
Cross over and continue along Station Crescent until the second turning on the right - Avondale Road. Turn right into Avondale Road and follow to Cumberland Road.
Slightly to the right is a lamp box on a lamp post. Turn left and follow Cumberland Road and then Kenilworth Road around a sharp bend to its junction with the A30 London Road.
On this junction is an E II R box. Turn right and cross over Avondale Road. Continue straight on until the junction with Stanwell Road at the Harvester Restaurant.
From here, you can cross the A30 over to Ashford Hospital, inside the Main Entrance is the oldest box in Ashford which was saved from its original location in Ford Road.
To continue the walk cross over Stanwell Road and turn right. Cross Gordon Road and continue past the school until the entrance to St David's School where a wall box is in a brick pillar. Although this box bears and E II R cipher there has been a box here since 1899.
Use the crossing to cross Stanwell Road and turn left over the railway bridge. At the end of the bridge use the crossing to cross back over the road and turn right and then left into Knapp Road. This is one of the new type of post boxes currently being manufactured and stands in front of what was originally the Post Office. The location of the original wall box can still be seen in the wall, together with stamp machines. Return to Church Road and turn left back towards the car park.
