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V R Post Boxes


ukelele lady

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Seeing as we have already wandered off topic (which i do like about this site - you never know where we are heading!) .. what happened to the community and the area which seem to exist in the 1903 photos? I mean there is nothing there at all now :unsure:

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I wondered something similar Calvin.

I was going to look up when the rail line was built. It runs immediately behind where the pub was, so a lot will have come down at that time..

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Back to the topic.....

No wonder there's not many VR boxes left, there weren't many to start with. In 1881 there were 12 pillar boxes and 35 wall boxes for the whole of Sheffield. The extract from Kellys Directory 1881 below shows where they were (P-pillar, W- wall, others were post offices)

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And it was actually in the street, not on the pavement - :)

I visited the spot today and found a small P.O feature in the road on the same spot as the photo shows the box in the road. Anyone know what it is?

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Interesting stuff Andy! Earlier in the thread it does say the box was on the corner of Pye Bank and Rock Street rather than Pitsmoor Road and Rock Street - have the road names changed at anytime? If not then your theory looks good - but as i often say on here it raises more questions than answers because i still have my unidentified P.O feature! Or could P.O stand for anything else?

My head hurts now :unsure:

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1853. Pub marked on the corner, and quite a way before the railway (Chapel Street is now Chatham St)

Just to confuse things a little more though, it looks as though

the road is named "Pye Bank or Pitsmoor Rd" :blink:

Oldmaps.co.uk

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So there was a pub on the corner of what is now Pitsmoor Road and Rock Street AND Pitsmoor Road was known as Pye Bank! Also Pitsmoor Road pre-dates the current Pye Bank Road. I liked Andy's theory but maybe we are back to the start again.

As an aside what is the origin of the name Pye Bank? Is Pye a name or a word?

... And what is the P.O feature in the road?? I think i am going to visit the site of other long gone V.R boxes to see if the same thing exists there :wacko:

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... And what is the P.O feature in the road?? I think i am going to visit the site of other long gone V.R boxes to see if the same thing exists there :wacko:

I have finally found another of these little P.O features! There is one in the pavement outside 71 Barber Road nearly opposite the Co-op.

And Edmund's list of VR boxes earlier in the thread lists Barber Road as having a post box in 1881!

Still don't know what they are though :unsure:

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The P.O feature on Barber Road.

I have seen two of these in Sheffield, both on or very near to the site of VR Post boxes.

I cannot for the life of me see what they are, but they are old and clearly related to the (former) presence of a VR post box :wacko:

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I don't think Pitsmoor Road was there at the time. Why have Pye Bank Road and Pitsmoor Road, which run almost side by side?

The reason for there being 2 roads which appear to be side by side is that Pye Bank Rd takes a route above a steep bank, and Pitsmoor Rd runs along the bottom of it.

Google Streetview

There was a 1970,s maisonette complex (was it called The Woodside Estate ?) built on the steep site between the two roads. Demolished in the early 2000's I think.

you can see the evidence of that, here below.

Google Streetview

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I've just noticed something else about these PO things. They don't appear to be seated in a frame (unlike a drain cover) and don't appear to be able to be lifted out. So maybe there's nothing under them and they're just a marker of some kind?

I'd go with that, except for marking what and why?

But i do agree it looks like a marker instead of something with a practical application.

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But i do agree it looks like a marker instead of something with a practical application.

One would imagine that there has to be planning consent to site a pillar box. The one illustrated on Rock Street junction would have become redundant when the surrounding buildings were demolished, so could it be that the PO Office were marking their permission to site another pillar box there at some time in the future, should the need arise? Thus avoiding the chance of some obstruction being put there at some point.

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Could well be vox - it might seem strange now to claim the spot for a post box, but in Victorian times the postal service was a huge part of life and the economy. Presumably siting of boxes was much thought about, both by the P.O and other businesses and communities and the locations protected for possible future use as you suggest.

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One would imagine that there has to be planning consent to site a pillar box. The one illustrated on Rock Street junction would have become redundant when the surrounding buildings were demolished, so could it be that the PO Office were marking their permission to site another pillar box there at some time in the future, should the need arise? Thus avoiding the chance of some obstruction being put there at some point.

The plot thickens with these little P.O features - last night i walked past one in the pavement outside 607 Abbeydale Road. Now the two previous ones i have found were on the site of long gone VR Post boxes (Rock St and Barber Rd), but i can't see mention of 607 Abbeydale Rd in the lists on this thread <_< . If anyone can find a P.O link of any kind with this address i will still be happy with vox previous theory, otherwise...

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The plot thickens with these little P.O features - last night i walked past one in the pavement outside 607 Abbeydale Road. Now the two previous ones i have found were on the site of long gone VR Post boxes (Rock St and Barber Rd), but i can't see mention of 607 Abbeydale Rd in the lists on this thread <_< . If anyone can find a P.O link of any kind with this address i will still be happy with vox previous theory, otherwise...

Next to Sheaf Avenue

Google street view

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603 Abbeydale Road, (corner of Sheaf Ter.), 1905 street directory.

Must have been short lived, as there are no mentions in the 1901 or 1911 directories.

Sheaf Terrace, later became Sheaf Avenue.

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603 Abbeydale Road, (corner of Sheaf Ter.), 1905 street directory.

attachicon.gif1905 direct.jpg

Must have been short lived, as there are no mentions in the 1901 or 1911 directories.

Sheaf Terrace, later became Sheaf Avenue.

P.O. on this map (circa 1903).

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Cheers Steve! Great little markers still surviving from the site of either Post boxes or Post Offices. Although if this one existed between 1901 and 1911 it is not Victorian, so strictly speaking we are off topic. Still not 100% sure what they are for but vox's theory looks sound. Incidentally i was looking at the Abbeydale Rd surviving tramway pole at the time, so one interest merged into another :)

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Cheers Steve! Great little markers still surviving from the site of either Post boxes or Post Offices. Although if this one existed between 1901 and 1911 it is not Victorian, so strictly speaking we are off topic. Still not 100% sure what they are for but vox's theory looks sound. Incidentally i was looking at the Abbeydale Rd surviving tramway pole at the time, so one interest merged into another :)

Plus a change in name :)

Sheaf Terrace, later became Sheaf Avenue.

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So presumably then there was a pillar box just along from the P.O itself and that the marker is in it's position. All i need now is a photograph of the area dating from the few years between 1901 and 1911 when the P.O was operating ;-)

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Why is this post box painted black I wonder?

It is in the driveway of a farmhouse that used to be Crappers farm at High Bradfield.

I wonder if it is now their own personal letterbox belonging to the occupants otherwise

I think it would be painted red.

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