Irish lamp box erected by An Post. Italian domestic post box. King Edward VII pillar box in Birgu, Malta. A weather-resistant, pet-proof, wall-mounted box Stylish, discreet and compact, it is suitable for both residential and business use A key system which means that just you and An Post can access the box Email alerts when we deliver an item.
Published in 18th–19th - Century History, Features, Issue 3 (May/Jun 2008), Volume 16Modern postal services date back to 1840, when the first ‘penny post’ was introduced in Ireland and Britain by (Sir) Rowland Hill, the British tax and social reformer; until then, letters were charged on a sliding system based on distance to be carried. Cheap pre-paid postage at a uniform rate, and speedy delivery through the developing rail network and the new steamships, resulted in rapid expansion of the postal service. Reduced rates for newspapers and other printed matter also helped, as did the introduction a few years later of the postcard, its despatch to all and sundry soon to be an essential part of any holiday, and the growing popularity of Christmas and other greetings cards.
The three types of Victorian post boxes in County Wexford the majority were wall-mounted like this one (top) in John Street Upper, Wexford.
Post offices were opened in towns throughout Ireland, and post boxes, either free-standing or wall-mounted, became a familiar sight. Today examples of late nineteenth-century post boxes still survive in many places, their original paint well hidden under coats of An Post green but with Queen Victoria’s royal cipher still clearly visible. County Wexford has a number of Victorian post boxes still extant. The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH) lists ten so far with the ‘VR’ royal cipher: five in Wexford town, four in New Ross and one in Gorey. Others may remain to be discovered in rural parts of the county. The majority are wall-mounted. Some were made by W. T. Allen and Co., London; others came from A. [Andrew] Handyside and Co., London and Derby, later the Derby Castings Company. They represent early examples of mass-produced cast-iron work and make a ‘pleasant, if discreet, contribution to the aesthetic value of the street scene’.
Main Street North, Wexford, the now-familiar pillar post box, a derivation of the ‘First National Standard Box’ introduced in 1861. (NIAH)
One Wexford post box stands out in particular, however. Nestled beneath the commanding façade of the Royal Court Hotel, North Street, New Ross, is a free-standing post box belonging to a type comparatively rare not only in Ireland but also in Britain. Although commonly referred to as the ‘Penfold Hexagonal’ post box, it was designed by the English architect and surveyor John Wornham Penfold (1828–1909) to be marketed as the ‘New Standard Letter Box’ and may have been influenced by the octagonal post boxes commissioned by Hill in early 1852. Production by the Cochrane Company (fl. 1857–79) of Birmingham and Dudley commenced in 1866.
Complaints made by the public that letters were easily caught up in the corners of the hexagon led, however, to the rise in popularity of the now-familiar pillar post box, a derivation of the ‘First National Standard Box’, which had been introduced as early as 1861. It has been documented that of the approximately 300 ‘Penfold Hexagonal’ post boxes manufactured, only half remain in use to the present day, but with some surviving in such far-flung places as India, Australia and New Zealand—a reminder of the extent of the British Empire in the Victorian era.
Mary Davies is a writer and editor; Damian Murphy is NIAH Survey Controller.
Don’t attempt to mix it with the Mórrígan. You would be very unwise to mess with her and her sisterly accomplices. She was one of the original members of the Tuatha Dé Danann (People of the Goddess Danu) who chose Ireland as their base and headquarters. This was good preparation for battle and shenanigans as the Fir Bolg had to be defeated first.
As a shape-changer she can transform from ravishing beauty to hag — or battle crow to Bean nighe — in triple time. This has caused a great deal of confusion to careless mythologists and innocent Godcheckers. Some sources claim there are three of her. But as her sisters Badb and Nemain usually join in the fray, this is not surprising. The three girls form a triad formidable enough to make all other Holy Trinities tremble and burst into tears.
There could have been more as Fea, Fódla and Nemain, other warrior Goddess compatriots with shape-changing abilities, were hardly likely to sit on the sidelines when things got exciting. With crows wheeling and shrieking and startling transformations going on, who is going to stop to count? Especially when you are fleeing in terror, knowing they always picked the winning side.
When Medb The Queen of Connaught employed the Mórrígan Mob in her battle against Ulster and Cúchulainn, more confusion was caused — as Medb is similar to Badb. Badb was not as bad as Medb, and the Mórrígan forces used fear itself as a weapon rather than adding to the slaughter.
Mórrígan does have a loving side to her nature, and gave the Irish Hero Cúchulainn every chance to make love not war. But would he listen? That’s why he is now only commemorated as a statue of a dying warrior with a Mórrígan crow on his shoulder. Who knows what she could be saying to him?
Far from fading away, The Mórrígan is still exceedingly popular and has many followers. There no longer seems to be a pecking order for battle crows; she is more into utilizing Earth energy — which is very nice to know. A Dark Green Goddess from the Emerald Isle.
Sláinte!
Name: Mórrígan
Pronunciation: Coming soon
Alternative names: Mór-Ríoghain, Morrígan, Morríghan, Morrigna, Morrigu
Gender: Female
Type: Goddess
Celebration or Feast Day: Unknown at present
Irish Post Box
In charge of: War
Area of expertise: War
Good/Evil Rating: OKAY, not bad
Popularity index: 15521
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Irish Post Box Harp
Article last revised on May 23, 2019 by Rowan Allen.
Editors: Peter J. Allen, Chas Saunders
References: Coming soon.
Irish Independent
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