Harwell: Village for a thousand years

Menu
  • Harwell Book – Full text of ‘Village for a thousand years’
    • Introduction
      • Contents
    • Beginnings – The Beginnings of Harwell
      • The Beginnings of Harwell
      • The Charters
      • Close
    • Middle Ages – The Late Middle Ages
      • Harwell Church
      • The Medieval Manors
      • Cruck Buildings
      • Close
    • Tudors – Tudors to Charles II
      • The Tudor period
      • Berkshire Farmers and their Homes
      • The Harwell Mug
      • Harwell: The Family Name
      • Trade Tokens
      • In the Civil War
      • Close
    • Charities – Harwell Charities
      • John Loder
      • Christopher Elderfield
      • Poor’s Orchard
      • William Wells
      • J. King
      • Frances Geering
      • Matthew Eaton
      • Robert Loder
      • Bag(g)’s Tree
      • An Old Harwell Recipe
      • Close
    • 19th C – Harwell in the Nineteenth Century
      • Enclosures
      • The Great Fire of Harwell
      • Fire at Didcot Station
      • Harwell and the Early Posts
      • Close
    • People – Some Nineteenth Century Families, Houses and Personalities
      • The Manor of Bishop’s Harwell, or Lower Manor, after the Middle Ages.
      • Bob Lay, Bob Lay, Bob Lay
      • The Bosley Family
      • John Lay of Prince’s Manor 1815 – 1888
      • From a book sold for the Blewbury Village Organ Fund in 1874.
      • Thomas James Pryor
      • The Day Family
      • The Hitchman Family
      • Other Old Harwell Families
      • Pillar House, Harwell
      • A Country Doctor (Dr Richard Rice)
      • Kelly’s Directory reports on the Harwell of 1891
      • The School
      • A Pictorial Miscellany
      • Close
    • 20th C – The Early Twentieth Century
      • Stanley Day
        • The Turn of the Century
        • A Visit to Harwell
      • Tape Recordings
        • A Houseboy at Harwell
        • Eliza Hutchings
        • Harwell Bakeries
        • The Eggs
        • Old Neighbours
        • Fire at King’s Farm (c.1908)
        • Will It Light?
        • Miss Irene Clarke’s memories.
      • Poem by H.S. Baker
      • Close
    • WWII – The Second World War
      • Guinea Pig Club
      • Eric Greenwood
      • Harwell in Wartime
      • School Life in Wartime
      • The Harwell Players
      • Close
    • 1945 -1985 – The Post War Years
      • The Atomic Energy Research Establishment.
      • Harwell Parish Council
      • Water and Sewage
      • Nursing Service
      • School Life after the War
      • The Winterbrook Youth Club
      • The Public Houses
      • The Whit Monday Feast
      • Wild Flowers of Harwell
      • The Bee Orchid
      • Village Footpaths
      • St Matthew’s Church Today
      • Harwell Women’s Institute
      • Harwell Bowls Club
      • Harwell Football Club
      • Close
    • Cherries – Harwell Cherries
      • Robert Loder
      • Cherries (1965)
      • Gordon Bosley
      • John Masefield: The Cherries
      • Close
    • Appendices
      • Appendix I the Harwell Charters
        • Introduction to The Harwell Charters
        • Charter No 1
        • Charter No 2
        • Charter No 3
        • Appendix I Charter References
      • Appendix II Buildings
      • Appendix III Glossary
      • Appendix IV Contributors
      • Appendix V References
      • Close
    • Close
« Fire at Didcot Station
People »
You are here: Home / 19th C / Harwell and the Early Posts

Harwell and the Early Posts

The earliest known letters, in the form of clay tablets carried by messengers, date from about 2000 BC and were used extensively by the Egyptians and the Assyrians. In the first century AD most Roman letters were written with a reed pen and ink on papyrus and must have lightened the postman’s load. Parchment, prepared from the skin of a sheep or goat for writing on, was first used in Pergamum in Asia Minor and was later in universal use until the invention of paper. The first paper mill in England is believed to have been set up in about 1490.

During the Middle Ages messengers were employed by kings and princes, municipalities and monasteries to convey despatches. The profits derived from the carriage of mail enabled universities to pay their professors. In 1661 King Charles II issued a proclamation appointing Henry Bishop as Postmaster General and to Bishop fell the task of organising a mail distribution network not only within this country but to the principal European cities as well. Many of the postal reforms instituted then set the trend towards the development of the refined postal service we take so much for granted today. A postal mark, introduced in 1661, showing the date on which a letter was received by the post office was the first of its kind anywhere in the world. Later the names of the office of despatch and receipt were marked on letters. It is from these markings that we can deduce the route of early items of mail.

A letter to Highworth, posted in 1826, was marked with the Wokingham 35 mileage mark (the distance from London) and on the reverse the date stamp of 27th October 1826. The cover is endorsed ‘by Reading and Henley’ and the manuscript charge of 7d. deleted and replaced by the correct fee of 8d to be collected from the recipient, a Mr Crowdy, solicitor of Highworth. The letter explains delays in attending to business being “entirely owing to the illness of Lord Abingdon”. This letter would have been carried by coach, in stages from inn to inn with changes of horses, via Reading, Henley, Wallingford, Harwell, Wantage, Faringdon and so on to Highworth, a distance of some 59 miles.

Following the Great Post Office Reform of 1839 – 40 with the introduction by Rowland Hill of penny postage, the volume of mail was increased dramatically. In 1844 a numerical listing of post offices was issued with the offices in alphabetical order, Abingdon being No.3, Oxford 603 and Wallingford 832. As further offices were opened the listing was extended and we find (1)093 Harwell, 094 Steventon and 095 Drayton. Examples of these should have survived and might be found in stamp collections today.

05-03
Figure 5.3 Victorian post box, Wellshead corner, original site in wall.

In more recent times mail posted in Harwell received the postal marking of Didcot but all sorting of local mail now takes place in a highly mechanised office in Oxford and forfeits the localised identification.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

« Fire at Didcot Station
People »

Harwell is a village in south Oxfordshire, England, although until 1974 it was a Berkshire village. Harwell was first mentioned in 985, before the Doomsday Book.
This website presents the full text of the book (ISBN 0 9510668 0 3 ) published in 1985 to celebrate the village millennium.
"Harwell ~ Village for a thousand years"

Additional information about Harwell Village (History Notes, photos and more) can be found at harwellvillage.uk

Website © 2005–2023 maintained and managed by David Marsh on behalf of Harwell Parish Council
Copyright © 1985–2023 in the text of the book is vested in Harwell Parish Council