Grenoside Post Office

I would be very interested to find out any information or memories any forummers may have on the old Post Office on Penistone Road at Grenoside. I believe the old buliding is still there.

My gg uncle and aunt ran it in the late 1800's and early 1900's.

I would be very interested to find out any information or memories any forummers may have on the old Post Office on Penistone Road at Grenoside. I believe the old buliding is still there.

My gg uncle and aunt ran it in the late 1800's and early 1900's.

The building is still there but it hasn't been the local Post Office for many many years.

CLICK HERE FOR GRENOSIDE POST OFFICE

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Thanks Unregistered. Is the old building on the main road through Grenoside ?

The picture shows Charles and Sarah Womersley ( my gg uncle and aunt ) outside Grenoside Post Office with their children Charles, Maggie, Herbert, Cecil and David. They had another daughter Mary.

Charles jnr, pictured in postmans uniform on the far left of the picture was killed in action at the battle of Paschendale on 26th October 1917 ( 90 years ago) at the age of 31 leaving a wife and young son. He is buried in Roclincourt cemetary in France.

 

Thanks Unregistered. Is the old building on the main road through Grenoside ?

Yes - it is on the main A61 Penistone Road (called Halifax Road nearer Sheffield) and not to be confused with Main Street that runs through Grenoside Village.

The building is on the end of a five or six house terrace, probably built around 1880 and numbered about 71 Penistone Road. The back garden used to be open to Blacksmith Lane, before some houses were built there.

It was a grocery shop in the late seventies (H.Bell) then it changed hands and reverted to being just a dwelling. I think more recently it has become a shop again.

CLICK HERE FOR A MAP OF 71 PENISTONE ROAD, GRENOSIDE

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Thank you - I am much obliged.

Thanks Unregistered. Is the old building on the main road through Grenoside ?

The picture shows Charles and Sarah Womersley ( my gg uncle and aunt ) outside Grenoside Post Office with their children Charles, Maggie, Herbert, Cecil and David. They had another daughter Mary.

Charles jnr, pictured in postmans uniform on the far left of the picture was killed in action at the battle of Paschendale on 26th October 1917 ( 90 years ago) at the age of 31 leaving a wife and young son. He is buried in Roclincourt cemetary in France.

I have also seen that photograph. Most likely I still have it - I am sure I downloaded it.

In case it's of interest, here are three early Grenoside postmarks:

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u219/twigmore/Grenoside.jpg

They date from (L to R) 1845, 1852 and 1858. Until the 1870s or 1880s the office was located at William Coggon's shop in "Nether Houses", and he and other members of the Coggon family (who hailed from Epworth, Lincolnshire) were postmasters until the 1880s. The last of the Coggon postmasters was Richard Coggon who took up the post (no pun intended!) in 1874. While ever the Coggons had the post office it was a "receiving office" - that is, it sold stamps and received letters which were sent each day to the main P.O. in Sheffield. Receiving offices were not allowed to date-stamp mail (in case a delay occurred in getting the mail to the main P.O.) and this is why these postmarks shown in the above link have no dates in the middle, as would be the case if they were used at "Crown" offices.

In case it's of interest, here are three early Grenoside postmarks:

 

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u219/twigmore/Grenoside.jpg

 

They date from (L to R) 1845, 1852 and 1858. Until the 1870s or 1880s the office was located at William Coggon's shop in "Nether Houses", and he and other members of the Coggon family (who hailed from Epworth, Lincolnshire) were postmasters until the 1880s. The last of the Coggon postmasters was Richard Coggon who took up the post (no pun intended!) in 1874. While ever the Coggons had the post office it was a "receiving office" - that is, it sold stamps and received letters which were sent each day to the main P.O. in Sheffield. Receiving offices were not allowed to date-stamp mail (in case a delay occurred in getting the mail to the main P.O.) and this is why these postmarks shown in the above link have no dates in the middle, as would be the case if they were used at "Crown" offices.

That's interesting because when I worked at Ecclesfield Post Office in the 1960's, we did include the time and date in our handstamp. Ecclesfield PO was also a mail office. It might be worth contacting the postal museum at Mount Pleasant as to when the rules changed. I wish I had a pound for every time I've dropped the box of dies and had to pick them all up and replace them in their box (all in order).

Yes, Nigel, I think that "receiving houses" were phased out around the turn of the last century, and gradually evolved into sub-post offices. Then, as now, these had most of the functions of "Crown" offices, including date-stamping mail posted there. Most of the mail would still have gone to the main P.O. for postmarking, as it still does, but registered letters, for example, would receive the postmaster's dated handstamp at the counter, as would postal orders, licences etc. issued, as today. I am working with other local philatelists on a book about Sheffield's postal history, to be published in a year or so's time. This will include a section about Grenoside.

I just looked at the Sheffield directory for 1925; this gives "Maurice Beever" as sub-postmaster at Grenoside, and so Charles had evidently retired by that time. A Charles Womersley is mentioned in the alphabetical list, resident at Myrtle Villas.

I know what you mean about dropping the box of dies - being interested in these things I bought a complete "kit" on eBay (handstamp and set of dies, all neatly arranged in the box), and I've dropped the box at least a couple of times and had to gather up the dies!

Yes, Nigel, I think that "receiving houses" were phased out around the turn of the last century, and gradually evolved into sub-post offices. Then, as now, these had most of the functions of "Crown" offices, including date-stamping mail posted there. Most of the mail would still have gone to the main P.O. for postmarking, as it still does, but registered letters, for example, would receive the postmaster's dated handstamp at the counter, as would postal orders, licences etc. issued, as today. I am working with other local philatelists on a book about Sheffield's postal history, to be published in a year or so's time. This will include a section about Grenoside.

 

I just looked at the Sheffield directory for 1925; this gives "Maurice Beever" as sub-postmaster at Grenoside, and so Charles had evidently retired by that time. A Charles Womersley is mentioned in the alphabetical list, resident at Myrtle Villas.

 

I know what you mean about dropping the box of dies - being interested in these things I bought a complete "kit" on eBay (handstamp and set of dies, all neatly arranged in the box), and I've dropped the box at least a couple of times and had to gather up the dies!

Good luck with the book. I worked 43 years for Royal Mail (GPO when I began) and retired last Christmas. I still have a piece of blue sealing wax which I used on the Registered letters. That was phased out many years ago. It's Special Delivery etc. now. It's interesting that you found a Charles Womersley in Grenoside. That was also my Grandfather's name, and I do know they were second cousins or something like that. I don't class far removed relatives as family, and I am sure that they don't either. My branch of the family is from Chapeltown (not a hundred miles from Grenoside). The Christian name of Charles occurs over and over again in the Womersley family, as does Walter - I haven't a clue why.

Good luck with the book. I worked 43 years for Royal Mail (GPO when I began) and retired last Christmas. I still have a piece of blue sealing wax which I used on the Registered letters. That was phased out many years ago. It's Special Delivery etc. now. It's interesting that you found a Charles Womersley in Grenoside. That was also my Gradfather's name, and I do know they were second cousins or something like that. I don't class far removed relatives as family, and I am sure that they don't either. My branch of the family is from Chapeltown (not a hundred miles from Grenoside). The Christian name of Charles occurs over and over again in the Womersley family, as does Walter - I haven't a clue why.

I believe that it was often customary to name the first born son after the fathers father. Therefore, if a man had many sons, all of their first born would have the same name ! I think thats why there are so many Charles Womersleys in both of our trees Nigel !

We are distantly related !

I believe that it was often customary to name the first born son after the fathers father. Therefore, if a man had many sons, all of their first born would have the same name ! I think thats why there are so many Charles Womersleys in both of our trees Nigel !

We are distantly related !

We could well be. My Dad's brother was Herbert, and his sister was Margaret. His sister Mary died when he was about four. Small world.