Before the introduction of pillar boxes, in the UK mainland, it was customary to take outgoing mail to the nearest letter house or post office such houses were usually coaching inns or turnpike houses where the mail coach would stop to pick up and set down mails and passengers.People took their letters in person to the receiver or postmaster purchased a stamp(after 1840)and handed over the letter (Wikipedia) The date fits and the location so I think "letter box" is right.
Last edited by paranoidballoon; 18th Mar 20119:26pm.
Para's right, though a lot of old adverts I've seen, they are normally called Posting house's. Going back to the map, i think its Bar, not so sure about Letter, trying to think of something else but difficult with Billy already implanting it in my mind.
God help us, Come yourself, Don't send Jesus, This is no place for children.
This may explain why the Woodside Hotel seemed so close to the ferry in the picture
By 1842, the ferry service had been taken over by the Birkenhead Commissioners.[1] A stone pier with two slipways and a small lighthouse at the pier head were constructed.[3] There followed another period of major rebuilding, which included land reclamation up to the end of the pier. Construction of a floating landing stage in 1861 allowed for combined usage by the ferries
so the turreted building could have been one of these ADELPHI HOTEl,1, Rose brae Old Post office Hotel, Rose Brae & 8, Church street FERRY iNN, Rose brae, Woodside in 1857 PO directory and 1861mawdsley
As regards the Letter box? query I don't know if this helps In 1808 a contract to carry mail by ferry from businesses mostly in Liverpool transferred to Woodside from the ferry service further south at Tranmere. By 1818 William Woods had a lease for the ferry service at Woodside but in 1822 Hugh Williams, keeper of the Woodside Hotel, took over the lease. He took the steamer Contess of Bridgewater from the Ellesmere Port ferry service to use at Woodside. On 13 March 1822 the steamer was replaced by the Royal Mail vessel.
Perhaps a better quality map will solve the problem? As you can see the large scale 1875 map clearly shows a letter box right outside the Ferry Offices. Following the building of Woodside Station and the other buildings alongside the south side of Ferry Approach, the letter box was later moved to the position shown in the postcard below.
For Derek's benefit, I've also included a (poor quality, sorry!) copy of an old engraving of Woodside in about 1850. In it you can just about make out a number of 'turreted' buildings around the top of the Ferry slip. These belonged to the Ferry Company and contained the offices and associated waiting rooms, etc. This style of pseudo-Medieval architecture was extremely popular for a short time in the early 1800s, and similar style buildings appear in old pictures of Birkenhead Ferry, Tranmere Ferry and Rock Ferry, and the same style was used by Jesse Hartley for many of the early buildings associated with Liverpool Docks.
Yes, they are. Although it's not clear in the scan above, the Woodside Hotel has the words 'Gough's Hotel' painted across the frontage.
William Harbridge was a local wine & spirits dealer who seems to have started out in what is now Rigby's pub over in Dale Street, where he was the licencee from 1852-1863. The following account of him is from an article on 'Old Liverpool Snuggeries' in The Liverpool Citizen of 10th October 1888: "The Dale-street snuggery has had some noteworthy men as managers, and amongst them I may mention Mr. William Harbridge, who was a model Boniface and endeared himself to a large circle of friends before he started in business for himself in Birkenhead, where, as the host of the Woodside Hotel, he made a reputation which time alone can efface."
OK - Marty's overwhelming evidence points to it being 'Letter Box'. I was assuming 'Bar' meant gate or entrance (as in Toll Bar, or Temple Bar) - and the photograph looked like such a gate. Sorry for bringing in the confusion.
Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come.
