William Fraher, curator of Waterford County Museum
continues this week to point out what can be seen in Dungarvan and Abbeyside. So next time you are out for a stroll look out
for these gems hidden in plain sight. Look up, look down, and look
around!
Pillar Post Box
Pillar boxes were first introduced in England
around 1853. The first boxes were
introduced to Ireland in 1855 at Belfast, Ballymena and Dublin and most were
painted a dark bronze green colour. In
June 1855 the House of Commons established a select committee to enquire into
the postal arrangements for the south of Ireland. The chairman was Thomas
Meagher, M.P. for Waterford. The post
office surveyor and author Anthony Trollope contributed 100 pages to the report
of the committee.
The first record of a post box in Dungarvan is
recorded in the minute book of Dungarvan Town Commissioners in February 1861. Henry Anthony, Chairman wrote to the
Postmaster General asking for a second pillar letter receiver to be placed in
Abbeyside: ‘That the Municipal Borough of Dungarvan comprises
two wards, first that of Dungarvan and secondly the Abbeyside Ward. That in the
said Borough there is but one letter receiver…That the Abbeyside Ward contains
over 300 houses with a population of over 900 inhabitants…is placed at a
considerable distance from the post office in Dungarvan…That there are over
twenty shops carrying on extensive business in the flour, bread &
grocery trade, besides several coal merchants, that a large portion of the sea
faring population reside therein also several ship owners…there is a Roman
Catholic Chapel, also a Police Station the fixed strength of which is ten men –
the Parish Priest, the Resident Magistrate & County Sub Inspectors of
Constabulary also reside there…That in the opinion of the memorialists one
receiver is quite inadequate to supply the wants of a rising town of Dungarvan,
and that a second is much required contiguous to Bridge Street’.
There is no further reference to this in the
minutes so presumably Abbeyside remained without a pillar box.
The oldest surviving post box in Dungarvan can be
seen in Church Street near Merrys. According
to Stephen Ferguson, author of ‘The Irish Post Box’ boxes bearing the monogram
of George V (1910-1936) are uncommon. These
boxes were originally painted red, a colour introduced in 1874 as standard. When the Irish Free State was established it
was decided that all post boxes be painted green which was known as ‘Saorstát
Green’. In February 1922 the Chief Clerk instructed postmasters around the
country that: The Postmaster General of the Irish Free State has decided that
in future all Letter Boxes are to be painted emerald green instead of P.O. red.
The words ‘An Post’ in Gaelic character should be inserted in yellow over the
doors of the Letter Boxes, black paint should be continued to be used for the
bases of the Pillar Boxes’. Harrington’s of Cork supplied the green paint for
all the Munster letter boxes. A few
months later the government ordered that the letters ‘S.E.’ be added.
It is important that this rare survivor of our postal
heritage be maintained and preserved.