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The Bath Postal Museum was a 
The museum was founded in 1979 by Audrey and Harold Swindells in the basement of their house in
postal museum
A postal museum is a museum dedicated to the display of objects relating to the postal service. A subcategory of postal museums are philatelic museums, which focus on philately and postage stamps.
List of postal and philatelic museums
Afric ...
in Bath, Somerset
Bath (Received Pronunciation, RP: , ) is a city in Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman Baths (Bath), Roman-built baths. At the 2021 census, the population was 94,092. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, Bristol, River A ...
, England.
The museum was founded in 1979 by Audrey and Harold Swindells in the basement of their house in Great Pulteney Street
Great Pulteney Street is a grand thoroughfare that connects Bathwick on the east of the River Avon with the City of Bath, England via the Robert Adam designed Pulteney Bridge. Viewed from the city side of the bridge the road leads directly to t ...
. In 1985, it moved to a home in Broad Street. This was the site of Bath's main Post Office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...
from 1822 to 1854 and the building in which the first recorded posting of a Penny Black
The Penny Black was the world's first adhesive postage stamp used in a public Mail, postal system. It was first issued in the United Kingdom on 1 May 1840 but was not valid for use until 6 May. The stamp features a profile of Queen Victoria.
...
took place on 2 May 1840. It was designated by English Heritage
English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...
as a grade II listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
.
The museum's collections included: biographies of key figures involved with the development of the Post Office and connected with Bath, such as Ralph Allen
Ralph Allen ( – 29 June 1764) was a British postmaster, merchant and philanthropist best known for his reforms to General Post Office#Early postal services, Britain's postal system. Born in St Columb Major, Cornwall, he moved to Bath, Somers ...
, John Palmer and Thomas Moore Musgrave; a history of the post from 2000BC to the current day and a history of the British postbox
A post box (British English; also written postbox; also known as pillar box), also known as a collection box, mailbox, letter box or drop box (American English), is a physical box into which members of the public can deposit outgoing mail intend ...
.
Artefacts on display included quill
A quill is a writing tool made from a moulted flight feather (preferably a primary wing-feather) of a large bird. Quills were used for writing with ink before the invention of the dip pen/metal-Nib (pen), nibbed pen, the fountain pen, and, event ...
s and ink
Ink is a gel, sol, or solution that contains at least one colorant, such as a dye or pigment, and is used to color a surface to produce an image, text, or design. Ink is used for drawing or writing with a pen, brush, reed pen, or quill. ...
wells, stamp boxes, post boxes, post horn
The post horn is a valveless cylindrical brass instrument with a cupped mouthpiece. The instrument was used to signal the arrival or departure of a post rider or mail coach. It was used by postilions of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Use and co ...
s, clay tablet
In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets (Akkadian language, Akkadian ) were used as a writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform, throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age.
Cuneiform characters were imprinted on a wet clay t ...
s, strip maps, model mail coach
A mail coach is a stagecoach that is used to deliver mail. In Great Britain, Ireland, and Australia, they were built to a General Post Office-approved design operated by an independent contractor to carry long-distance mail for the Post Office. ...
es, and letters and postcards. There was also a replica Victorian post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...
.
Due to vastly increased rent from 2003, the museum had to move out of the Broad Street building and on 7 November 2006 it reopened on a much smaller scale in the basement of the post office building at 27 Northgate Street.
In September 2023, shortly after the death of its founder Audrey Swindells and 44 years of operation, the museum closed when its lease expired.
References
{{Authority control Museums established in 1979 Museums in Bath, Somerset Philatelic museums Grade II* listed buildings in Bath, Somerset Philately of the United Kingdom 1979 establishments in England Postal museums