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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. The first trials were in Guernsey in 1851 where the first roadside collection box was erected.
Not all boxes are free standing post boxes, there are also "lamp boxes" which are designed to fit on a lamp or other similar post and "wall boxes" which are built into a wall or similar structure.
Other details to look for are: the maker's name. This is usually on the black base at the rear. The aperture, or slot where you post the letters can vary in size, orientation and position. The collection plate which gives the box number, collection times and usually the next collection. The Royal Cipher - post boxes are not changed with a new monarch so there are several different ciphers still to be seen. Some boxes have no cipher. Some have machines that sell stamps, others have a red box on the side. This is known as a "pouch box" and enables the postie to do two rounds. By leaving the second round in the pouch box he does not have to return to the sorting office.
So let's look at post boxes. Here are two short walks that can be joined together if you are feeling energetic. They start and finish at the public car park in Church Road, Ashford. It may be useful to have a street map as well.
Walk 1 - Let's look at post boxes part one
With the car park on your left, walk along Church Road until you come to a double aperture E II R box [1]. 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 is a George V (GR) post box [2]. This part of Ashford owes its existence to the coming of the railway in 1848.
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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, now known as St David's. 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 E II R post box [3]. Continue along
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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) [4]. 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) [5].
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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 [6]. 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 [7]. Turn right and cross over Avondale Road. Continue straight on until the junction with Stanwell Road at the Harvester Restaurant. From here there are two optional excursions:
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(a)
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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 [a].
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(b)
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Cross Stanwell Road past the Harvester there is a box at the London Road Post Office [b] and a bit further along the A30 is a lamp box at the junction of Orchard Way [c].
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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 [8]. 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 [9] 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. End of Part One.
Walk 2 -Let's look at post boxes part two
On the opposite side of the road to the car park with Spelthorne College on your left walk along Church Road until the junction with Brownrigg Road and an E II R box [10]. Cross church Road at the crossing and turn into Fordbridge Road, past Manor Road is a George VI box [11]. Continue along Fordbridge Road and cross after Ford Close to see an E II R lamp box on the corner of Ashview Gardens [12]. Go back along Fordbridge Road and turn left into Stanwell Road. Follow this road crossing Ethel Road, Links Road and St Hilda's Avenue until the junction of Wellington Road where there is a George V box [13]. Cross over Stanwell Road and turn right into Stanley Road. Follow Stanley Road and cross over Chesterfield Road into Ford Road. At the junction with Wolsey Road there is a new E II R box [14] which has replaced the Edward VII box that is now in Ashford Hospital. Cross Chaucer Road and turn right into Clarendon Road. Turn left into Dudley Road and you are back into Church Road. Turn left to the car park.
We hope you have enjoyed this walk which was produced by the Friends of Spelthorne Museum. If you would like more information on letter boxes there is an information sheet available from Spelthorne Museum,1 Elmsleigh Road, Staines, TW18 4PM.
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