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THE
POST OFFICES OF TODMORDEN AND WALSDEN
BEFORE 1914
By
Robert A. Priestley
(Sketches
and photographs are also by Robert) |
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The
Golden Lion Inn |
Todmorden's
first post office, or receiving office, as it was then known, was
the Golden Lion Inn. The inn was also a coaching inn where ordinary
stagecoaches stopped to change horses. |
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Before
1799, mail arrived from Halifax three times a week, either by
foot or horse post depending upon the amount of mail to deliver.
Halifax was on an East to West mail route. Mail coaches ran from
Manchester and Liverpool to Leeds, Wakefield and York, calling
at Rochdale and then Halifax after going over Blackstone Edge.
This route connected with the North to South mail routes, London
to Glasgow at Manchester and London to Edinburgh at York and later
at Leeds.
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A
post boy in 1670 |
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The
Post Mistress at Halifax organised the route to Todmorden at her
own expense and made a handsome profit. If your house or place of
business was by the Turnpike Road, the mail was delivered to your
door; otherwise, you had to collect it from the designated receiving
office.
Mail
was charged at three old pence a mile, and the receiver not the
sender paid! In 1686, a penny post started for delivery of mail
sent, sorted and delivered within certain towns. The Post Mistress
in Halifax charged two pence for delivery on the route and one penny
for Halifax.
In
1799, a six-day delivery started using horse post. Thomas Knowles
was in charge of the Golden Lion. |
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Mail
Gig 1828 |
In
1810, the first of many requests was made for the mail coach to
be sent through Todmorden instead of going over Blackstone Edge.
Fourteen years later, a trial run was made and exactly one minute
was saved. On 27th August 1825 the mail coach ran through Todmorden.
In 1829, it reverted to its old route and all mail delivered to
the receiving offices by mail gigs. |
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1821, Edmund Blomley was appointed Post Master at the Golden Lion.
At 10am, a riding post called every day except Tuesday. The return
journey was made at noon. On the 10th January 1840 the nationwide
penny post was introduced. Now you paid when you sent a letter,
and all houses needed a letterbox. In January 1841, it was discovered
that Edmund Blomley had put some mail in an unsealed bag. This was
enough for instant dismissal.
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new Post Master was James Newell Walton of Newell Buildings, Pavement,
Todmorden. These buildings have since been demolished. The site
is roughly where the Birch tree stands in the photo on the right. |
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During
the 1830's there was considerable local agitation for a speedier
mail service. John Fielden of Dawson Weir, who was a Member of Parliament
at the time, entered the fray on behalf of the inhabitants of Todmorden.
He wrote the following letter to the Post Office Secretary:
| Dawson
Weir
Todmorden
Nov.
25th 1836
Sir,
By
today's post I send you a memorial to you from the inhabitants
of Todmorden and the Valley in which it is situate, and earnestly
request your attention.
There
can be no necessity for the industrious manufacturers and
tradesmen in this important valley suffering the inconvenience
they do from the want of a more early delivery and dispatch
of their letters. There are two mail coaches between Manchester
and Halifax daily. One from Manchester about 9 o'clock in
the morning, the other about 8 o'clock at night, and both
run over Blackstone Edge, a line of road communicating with
the road through Todmorden Valley at Littleborough, over Rochdale
at one end and at Kings Cross near Halifax at the other. If
their mails could be passed through the Valley instead of
going over the baron and nearly uninhabited hills of Blackstone
Edge, the inconvenience the memorialists complain of would
be alleviated.
The
road through the Valley is about 4 miles longer but the coaches
would be worked in about the same time as over Blackstone
Edge.
If
this cannot be done, another and better course, in my opinion,
would be to give the mail to the Perseverance, a coach that
has for many years run between Halifax and Manchester via
Todmorden, Littleborough and Rochdale daily, Sundays excepted.
This coach leaves Halifax at 7 o'clock in the morning and
Manchester at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. If an arrangement
was made for it to start from Halifax at about 5 o'clock in
the morning and arrive at Manchester by 9 o'clock in time
for letters to go South by the Manchester to London mail,
and return from Manchester in the afternoon after the arrival
of the London and Manchester mail, this Valley would then
obtain the accommodation the Memorialists desire, and the
two gig mails now in use, one from Halifax to Todmorden in
the morning and the other from Manchester to Rochdale in the
afternoon, might, it appears to me, be dispensed with, and
some saving thereby effected.
I
have these suggestions for your consideration and request
to be furnished with your answer to the petition of the memorialists
as soon as convenient.
I
am, Sir, your .
John
Fielden
To
the Secretary of the Post Office, London.
Received
an answer to this dated Nov 28th and forwarded it to J.P.
Sutcliffe, which stated that the letter and memorial had been
received and that it should be immediately referred to the
surveyor of the district for his consideration and report.
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the
original letter now belongs to Graeme Roberts of Walsden
It
is interesting to note the date the letter was sent and the date
the reply was issued. Has anything improved? I think not. |
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Joseph Crossley was the driver of
the Todmorden Gig until he died, aged only 28, in July 1845. The
coming of the railway in 1841 meant a new form of mail delivery
to the town. In 1849, Thomas Tidswell of Jackley Gate was appointed
as the first Letter Carrier in Todmorden. His route, or walk, was
the town itself. There were no out of town deliveries. Later, he
did the Todmorden to Portsmouth route. His wage was seven shillings
a week and the Post Master received £40 a year. In 1851, two
more Letter Carriers were appointed, Richard Ingham of Gatebottom
and Abraham Tidswell of Jackley Gate. |
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The
first house on Square Road, Walsden is the site of the first Post
Office in the village
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By
1851, a Post Office started at Square in Walsden, run by John Lacy.
In this year, the United Kingdom Electric Telegraph Company started
to erect telegraph poles through the valley. John Lacy died, James
Lord was appointed, and the office moved to St. Peter's Gate. |
The
Post Office is still at
St.
Peter's Gate in 2004
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1856
saw the start of two town deliveries, at 7.40am and 1.00pm. The
post men had to be back at the head office in time to sort the mail
they had collected and have it ready for the 6.47pm train to Manchester.
The
first pillar-box came in to use at Stansfield Road on 12th February
1859. In this year, Letter Carrier's wages were fourteen shillings
a week and the Post Master's salary was £50.
On 22nd November 1859, the following announcement was made in the Leeds Mercury:
The Ladies of Walsden and Their Postman
A short time ago, a few ladies residing in the village of Walsden, agreed to raise funds for suitably clothing their faithful messenger, Geo. Stell, and in a few days completed their self imposed task, and on Sunday morning the postman appeared clad in his new apparel, which consists of coat, waistcoat, trousers and cape, all of blue cloth, braided with red, together with a pair of suitable shoes and hat.
By
1862, there were three town deliveries at 7am, 11.30am and 5.15pm.
The Post Office was open from 7am to 9pm.
In
1864, the Telegraph Office opened for business at 7, Pavement.
John
Newell Walton died on 13th June 1865. His daughter Zipporah became
acting Postmistress until September 1868 when Thomas Scholfield
was appointed. |
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following year on 7th April 1870, the Post Office moved to the White
Hart Fold. The building, a four storey construction, had to be altered
considerably. The top two floors were one house, the bottom two
a green grocer's shop and dwelling. The bedroom floor of the lower
dwelling was lowered to form the Post Office. The road outside was
raised and steps and a door built to make the public entrance. The
old ground floor was reduced to cellar status. This building has
since seen may uses, most recently as a restaurant. |
White
Hart Fold
Regulation
uniforms were introduced in October 1872. In 1876, Thomas Scholfield
resigned and Walter Shackleton was appointed. By 1883, there were
sub-post offices at Lydgate, Gauxholme, Eastwood and Walsden. |
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The
23rd August 1883 saw the opening of a purpose built Post Office
in Hall Street. There were three rooms; the public room was at
the Old Hall end of the building, with the door facing the Hall
and the next rooms were for sorting the mail. Later, the public
room moved to the corner of Hall Street and Church Street. The
new Post Master was William Bottomley who was succeeded in 1891
by Edwin Taylor.
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The
old Post Office in Hall Street |
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Telegraph
and Telephone Exchange |
By
1892, there were four more sub-post offices at Roomfield, Castle
St., Cornholme and Wellington Road.
On
25th February 1895, Thomas Tidswell, known as Old Tom Post, died
aged 69. Over the years, his route had been; first, the Town route,
secondly Todmorden to Holmes Chapel, and finally Todmorden to Portsmouth.
The
National Telephone Exchange opened at 7, Pavement in 1896. The Post
Office then employed twenty-three males, three females, with twenty
staff in the nine sub-post offices. Portsmouth sub-office opened
in 1897. |
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1st July 1904 saw the opening of a new Post Office at Pavement.
The public entrance was on the corner and the postmen's entrance
down the side of the building. The Royal Mail Crown may still be
seen above the old sorting room window facing Rochdale Road. Mr.
Taylor remained as Post Master until after the War. |
The
public entrance |
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The
Post Office later moved to Todmorden Old Hall and then to Bramsche
Square. The photo to the right shows Todmorden Old Hall. |
The picture on the left shows the sorting office, with the Royal
Mail Crown above the window. |
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