Bath Postal Museum
Encyclopedia
The Bath Postal Museum is in Bath, Somerset
, England
.
The museum was founded in 1979 by Audrey and Harold Swindells in the basement of their house. In 1984, it moved to a home in Broad Street. This was the site of Bath's main Post Office
from 1822 to 1854 and the building in which the first recorded posting of a Penny Black
took place on 2 May 1840. It has been designated by English Heritage
as a grade II listed building.
The museum's collections include: biographies of key figures involved with the development of the Post Office and connected with Bath, such as Ralph Allen
, John Palmer
and Thomas Moore Musgrave
; a history of the post from 2000BC to the current day and a history of the British postbox.
Artefacts on display included quills
and ink
wells, stamp boxes, post boxes, post horns
, clay tablets
, strip maps, model mail coaches
and, letters and postcards. There was also a replica Victorian
post office
.
Due to vastly increased rent from 2003, the museum had to move out of the Broad Street building and on 7 November 2006 it reopened on a much smaller scale in the basement of the post office building at 27 Northgate Street.
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
The museum was founded in 1979 by Audrey and Harold Swindells in the basement of their house. In 1984, it moved to a home in Broad Street. This was the site of Bath's main Post Office
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
from 1822 to 1854 and the building in which the first recorded posting of a Penny Black
Penny Black
The Penny Black was the world's first adhesive postage stamp used in a public postal system. It was issued in Britain on 1 May 1840, for official use from 6 May of that year....
took place on 2 May 1840. It has been designated by English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
as a grade II listed building.
The museum's collections include: biographies of key figures involved with the development of the Post Office and connected with Bath, such as Ralph Allen
Ralph Allen
Ralph Allen was an entrepreneur and philanthropist, and was notable for his reforms to the British postal system. He was baptised at St Columb Major, Cornwall on 24 July 1693. As a teenager he worked at the Post Office. He moved in 1710 to Bath, where he became a post office clerk, and at the age...
, John Palmer
John Palmer (postal innovator)
John Palmer of Bath was a theatre owner and instigator of the British system of mail coaches that was the beginning of the great British post office reforms with the introduction of an efficient mail coach delivery service in Great Britain during the late 18th century...
and Thomas Moore Musgrave
Thomas Moore Musgrave
Thomas Moore Musgrave was an English postmaster and translator.-Personal life:Musgave was born in London to Thomas Musgrave and Elizabeth Musgrave on the 28th December, 1774. His mother died two year later, and his father's will made him his chief beneficiary upon his death when Musgrave was...
; a history of the post from 2000BC to the current day and a history of the British postbox.
Artefacts on display included quills
Quills
Quills is a 2000 period film directed by Philip Kaufman and adapted from the Obie award-winning play by Doug Wright, who also wrote the original screenplay. Inspired by the life and work of the Marquis de Sade, Quills re-imagines the last years of the Marquis' incarceration in the insane asylum at...
and ink
Ink
Ink is a liquid or paste that contains pigments and/or dyes and is used to color a surface to produce an image, text, or design. Ink is used for drawing and/or writing with a pen, brush, or quill...
wells, stamp boxes, post boxes, post horns
Post horn
The post horn is a valveless cylindrical brass or copper instrument with cupped mouthpiece, used to signal the arrival or departure of a post rider or mail coach...
, clay tablets
Clay tablet
In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets were used as a writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform, throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age....
, strip maps, model mail coaches
Mail coach
In Great Britain, the mail coach or post coach was a horse-drawn carriage that carried mail deliveries, from 1784. In Ireland, the first mail coach began service from Dublin in 1789. The coach was drawn by four horses and had seating for four passengers inside. Further passengers were later allowed...
and, letters and postcards. There was also a replica Victorian
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
post office
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
.
Due to vastly increased rent from 2003, the museum had to move out of the Broad Street building and on 7 November 2006 it reopened on a much smaller scale in the basement of the post office building at 27 Northgate Street.