Post Boxes

                                        

VR ( Victoria Regina ) Post box 

The original post boxes were painted red - pillar box red - as they were through out the British empire. the were standing , embedded into walls and attached to telegraph poles . Modern postal services date back to 1840 when the first penny post was introduced in Britian and Ireland by Sir Rowland Hill the British tax and social reformer . 

  

                                                           ER   ( Edward Rex )  Post Box 

In the 1850's post boxes were introduced to Ireland by the novelist Anthony Trollope who was a surveyor for the Post office .  The free standing postboxes Penfold date back to 1866 to 1879 , only six have survived and one is on the Sidmonton road in Bray . The inspiration for the design was the hexagonal shaped Temple of the winds in Athens with additional  acanthus leaf on the cap and smart bud shaped finial and beading . 

                                                    

   

                                                          Temple of the winds in Athens

Round pillar boxes replaced the Penfolds due to letters sticking  to the hexagonal design . the cylindrical boxes are widespread in Ireland mostly in towns and cities . 

                                           

Merrion square Dublin these boxes date from 1887 - 1901  ( photo Patrick Comerford ) 

Bray railway station ( Photo Patrick Comerford 2017 )

                                         

                                      

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