Pillar box in Bonnington Square

When someone spray-painted our pillar box a while back, April saw red and decided to adopt it.  And that’s why now it is always nice and clean, free of notices, and free of graffiti.  And that’s why I photographed her next to it.  Well done April!

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Dual aperture pillar box in front of Buckingham Palace

We had just finished a really interesting and informative guided tour of Buckingham Palace Garden – but taking photographs was not allowed.  What to do as a reminder of what was a really interesting afternoon – easy!  Cross Buckingham Palace Road and photograph Alan and Richard  in front of this pillar box.  Note Alan and Richard are still wearing their yellow tour stickers.

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VR pillar box in Thurleigh Road

Bonnie photographed me in front of this pillar box in Thurleigh Road, but didn’t get the VR crest in the picture.  Never mind.  And what is that box attached to it?  What’s it for?  No aperture in it to post anything.   A local mystery to be solved at some point.

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Dual aperture pillar box in front of St Thomas’ Hospital

This is my first dual aperture pillar box which were introduced in 1899 to separate ‘town’ and ‘country’ letters in London, and later in other cities.

In Edward VII’s reign there were two types: one with the royal cipher on each door and one with a single centrally placed cipher.  I can’t wait to stumble across one of those, but, for the moment, let’s enjoy this more recent ERII one.

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VR pillar box in Wandsworth Road, (near) corner of Landsdowne Road

My first ’standard’ VR pillar box, which means it was cast between 1887 and 1901.  It’s on the site of the ‘Postmen’s Office’, which is a Sorting Office and I guess both date from the same time.  I need to check why the aperture doesn’t have POST  and OFFICE on either side of it.

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Wall letter box in Thurleigh Road, Wandsworth

Bonnie took this photo of Liz in front of this lovely old VR box in Thurleigh Road while they were out dog-walking.  At first glance, and a quick dip into my ‘Old Letter Boxes’ book by Martin Robinson (available on Amazon), I  reckon it’s about 1871.

I now need to refer to a Letter Box expert and I’ve asked Bonnie to:

  • measure the size of the box (the last wall boxes of Queen Victoria’s reign were made in four sizes)
  • confirm whether POST OFFICE  is written on the lid (not clear from photo)
  • measure the aperture (less than 8 inches means that it’s original and wasn’t enlarged in situ between 1959 and 1965 by cutting out the aperture and fitting a new casting over it.  I don’t think so in this case which makes it extra exciting!)

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Update:

Info from Bonnie.

The box is between 119 and 123 Thurleigh, up on the left from us next to a
long white gate.  Width 16ins, length 33ins, apeture 7 in x 3 and a half
ins.  Says V R at the top with a crown in between

Waiting for Chris Taft to come with answers to my questions and will then update post

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Royal Ciphers on Letter Boxes

Useful page to help distinguish between the different royal ciphers on letter boxes:

http://www.wicks.org/pulp/stats.html#rc

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Pillar Box in South Lambeth Road

This new interest of mine in letter boxes came from visiting the Post Office Museum Store at Debden Station on the Central Line with AOD.

http://www.postalheritage.org.uk/

The idea is to find interesting letter boxes near where friends live and photograph them with them.  Ignoring for the moment the EIIR pillar box in Bonnington Square, here’s an older and more interesting one in South Lambeth Road, just past Fentiman Road.  As it is near me, I will get my photograph taken with it sometime.

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The GR on letter boxes shows the monarch who was on the throne at the time the box was made.  Where the G and R are plain bold separate letters as here, they are the cipher mark used by King George V and thus the box was made during his reign (1910-1936).  If the GR is interwoven and has a VI between then it is his son, George VI, who reigned from 1936-1952.  It does occur that doors are replaced and a box may be older than the door but that is not all that common and the age of the box can usually be guessed from the cipher information above.

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eponym

A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

Self-improvement author Dale Carnegie once said, “A person’s name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.” No wonder we put it to use any chance we get: from naming a business (Wal-Mart) to naming a child (Ron Jr.). For the same reason, we insist that a hospital auditorium or a park bench carry our name in return for our money.

We name inventions, diseases, countries, products, plants, mountains, planets, and more after people’s names. We even coin words after them. Such words are called eponyms, from epi- (upon) + -onym (name).

This week’s AWAD examines five words named after people.
churrigueresque

PRONUNCIATION:
(choor-ee-guh-RESK)
MEANING:
adjective: Baroque; lavish; over-the-top.
Also, churrigueresco.

ETYMOLOGY:
After José Benito Churriguera (1650-1725), Spanish architect and sculptor, whose family was known for extravagant architectural decorations.

USAGE:
“I had what I considered to be a reasonable plan for finding out what was going on in McAllen, Texas. I would call on the heads of its hospitals, in their swanky, decorator-designed, churrigueresco offices, and I’d ask them.”
Atul Gawande; The Cost Conundrum; The New Yorker; Jun 1, 2009.

“With Chihuly, who works with an army of technicians, everything depends on visual excess. He is the most baroque of modern artists — or more accurately, his art belongs to the tradition of the Churrigueresque.”
Richard Dorment; The Mind-blowing Gift of a Master; The Daily Telegraph (London, UK); Feb 20, 2009.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
I have never gone to sleep with a grievance against anyone. And, as far as I could, I have never let anyone go to sleep with a grievance against me. -Abba Agathon, monk (4th/5th century)

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Le Cassoulet

Return visit for the cheap lunch as it is such good value.

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