Y’Got Mail
To be honest, Terroir has never given much thought to letter boxes and mail boxes. Red pillar boxes? Of course. Thank Rowland Hill and Anthony Trollope for the mass invasion of these red, metal, hollow, columns with a slot somewhere near the top. Very collectable, and now with knitted or crotcheted hats. Worthy of a blog in their own right, these ‘toppers’, bonnets (or berets as Terroir likes to think of them) have been appearing since at least the beginning of the decade.
Above: the traditional pillar box - the perfect shape for modelling 21st century woollen whimsy.
Other designs of street letter boxes are available:
But letter slots on doors? Just part of normal UK door design, surely?
Wikipedia describes this sort of letter box as ‘A slot in a wall or door through which mail is delivered’ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_box). Succint and to the point. But we seldom take notice of these slots. Look again: they are a characterful, attractive and revealing feature of city, suburban and rural door design.
Although they seem to have been about for ever, letter slots are, of course, only as old as the postal delivery services themselves. Key dates appear to be:
1793 - first uniformed postmen hit the streets
1837 - invention of the adhesive postal stamp (Rowland Hill, of course)
1852 – first pillar boxes
https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/a-short-history-of-the-post-office/
So, one can assume that letter slots in doors became a ‘must have’ artefact around the middle of the 19th century.
But it’s not just about letter boxes in doors. How else does mail get to the appropriate person? Banks of mail boxes are now common in blocks of flats or at key points serving rural communities. Terroir finds it hard to get excited about these.
Right: the multi box - a key and underwhelming white fronted box per flat. The biggy on the bottom right is marked, rather ominously, ‘Management’
Poste Restante was once a romantic ingredient of overseas travel. Apparently it still exists. At home, the PO Box also offers an alternative to those who wish to collect their mail. None of these come free, of course, and involve a daily walk to the nearest facility but in Terroir’s experience, a chat with a friendly postal worker makes it worthwhile.
But there is another icon we must look at. To the British, the term ‘mail box’ probably conjures up images of the iconic American box-on-a-post at the edge of an enormous suburban garden or end of a rural road.
These seem to have become a standard part of the North American rural and urban streetscape in the early 20th century. Red flag up means ‘you got mail’. In some cases it could also mean that you had left mail there for the postie to collect. This functional box has spread around the world. Designs vary but most are basically a metal box, a curved roof and signal flag.
Until you get to Australia of course. On a recent trip, a corresponding member of Team Terroir sent the following photographs, taken while cycling across Tasmania.
Right: Courrier maritime?
You can see even more on the Wilmot Novelty Letter Box Trail. https://www.discovertasmania.com.au/things-to-do/heritage-and-history/wilmotnoveltyletterboxtrail/
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