PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
||||||
|
THE POST OFFICES Plymouth's first post office is said to have dated from between 1808 and 1812 but it was not until 1848 that the first purpose built one was erected. Whimple Street Post Office -- This large and elegant building was erected in 1848 by a company of shareholders and cost £3,000. It was designed by Mr O C Arthur after the style of the Temple of Vesta at Tivoli, Italy. Part was let as offices but the post office and post-masters residence was rented by the General Post Office for 75 years at £100 per annum. The postmaster was Mr Charles Markes. Devonport Post Office
The building was erected, exclusive of the cost of the ground, the architect's commission and post office fittings, for £1,650. The total cost was reported to be £2,000. Mr Trant of Chapel Street was the builder and Messrs Vosper executed all the enriched cement work. The sculptures were made under the superintendence of Mr Matthews. The postmaster in 1850 was Mr J W Coffin and his residence occupied the whole of the upper two floors. Its most striking feature was the rotunda, some 16 feet in diameter internally , and 15 feet high. Two pilasters and four Corinthian columns of Caen stone formed the outer semicircle with a further four pilasters decorating the inner face. Just inside the main entrance were four doorways, two on each side of a clock mounted on an ornate pedestal. The doors led into the Post Office, which was arranged in a right-angle shape. It was claimed that the whole length of the room, if straight, was 56 feet. On the pedestal beneath the clock was an inscription which reputedly read:
Above the main door were recessed panels. The lower one contained a sculpture representing the Caduceus of Mercury, 'as a symbol of that commercial intercourse and postal dispatch which it is the chief purpose of a Post Office to promote'. The higher recess contained a representation of the coat of arms of England. It was rebuilt in 1912 at a cost of about £7,000. Devonport Post Office survived the Blitz and was still in use in 1955. It was closed circa 1956 and demolished as the Admiralty wanted to take over the land on which it was situated. Westwell Street Post Office
The new post office, designed by Mr E G Rivers of Bristol, a surveyor to the HM Commissioner of Works, was built of Portland stone and Cornish granite in the Gothic style. The cost of the site and building was £16,500 and the contractor was Messrs Lapthorn and Goad of Plymouth. The foundation stone was laid on November 16th 1882 by Mr P S Macliver, a former Member of Parliament for Plymouth. There was no opening ceremony: the staff merely quietly moved evyrthing from the old premises in to the new Post Office during the night of Saturday December 6th 1884 and it opened for business on the following Monday. It was enlarged to cover the whole site in 1904 and the interior was reconstructed in 1933, it being reopened on May 17th 1933 by Sir Kingsley Wood, Postmaster General. It now had an inlaid floor depicting Drake's ships and the "Mayflower". Devonport Post Office was blitzed on March 20th/21st 1941 and completely destroyed. 10 Tavistock Road, Plymouth (Spear's Corner) -- This was the site of the temporary wartime main post office. When Premium Bonds were launched on Thursday November 1st 1956 a special room just inside the Old Town Street entrance was set aside for the expected rush of applicants. For the first three days the Post Office remained open from 8.30am until 6.30pm. The Post Office closed on September 10th 1957 and business moved to the present building at St Andrew's Cross. St Andrew's Cross Post Office -- The present main General Post Office at St Andrew's Cross, Plymouth, was officially opened on September 10th 1957 by Mr Ken Thompson, Assistant Postmaster General, although it did not start operating until the following day. RETURN to Postal Services history
|
