THE POST HOUSE AT THE DOLPHIN INN, IN DOLPHIN STREET, BRISTOL,
1662.--EXCHANGE AVENUE AND SMALL STREET POST OFFICES, BRISTOL.
That a Bristol Post-house existed early in the reign of King Charles II.
is indicated by a letter preserved at the Bristol Museum Library, which
was sent in August of 1662 from Oxford, and is addressed: "This to be
left at the Post-house in Bristol for my honoured landlord, Thomas Gore,
Esquire, living at Barrow in Somerset. Post paid to London."
The Dolphin Inn was for several years--even down to 1700--the Bristol
Post-house, and it was there that the postboys stabled their horses. The
inn long afterwards gave its name to Dolphin Street, which the street
still retains. It is believed the inn stood near the low buildings with
large gateway, in Dolphin Street, shown in the illustration. These
premises at the time the picture was drawn, in about 1815, had become
the stables of the Bush Inn in Corn Street, long celebrated as Bristol's
most famous coaching inn. The site has, until quite recently, been used
in connection with the carrying business.
[Illustration: THE BRISTOL POST OFFICE, 1750-1868.]
In 1700 the first actual Post Office was built. It was erected in All
Saints' Lane, and was held by one Henry Pine, as Postmaster. This Post
Office served the city's purpose until 1742, when the site was required
in connection with the building of the Exchange, and the Post Office was
transferred to Small Street. In September of that year (1742), an
advertisement describes the best boarding school for boys in Bristol as
being kept in Small Street by Mr. John Jones, in rooms "over the
Post-house." What kind of building this was is uncertain, as there is no
picture of it obtainable. Indeed, the first traceable illustration of a
Bristol Post Office is the engraving, a copy of which is here
reproduced, depicting the building erected in 1750, at the corner of the
Exchange Avenue as it appeared in 1805, when it was described as "a
handsome freestone building, situated on the west side of the Exchange,
to which it forms a side wing, projecting some feet forward in the
street; on the east side being another building answerable thereto."
These premises served as the Post Office for the long period of 118
years.
The first half of the present Bristol Post Office premises in Small
Street was occupied by Messrs. Freeman and Brass and Copper Company.
As a matter of history, a copy of the abstract of conveyance may,
perhaps, be fittingly introduced. It sets forth the particulars of the
uses to which the site was originally put before taken by the Post
Office.
"21st December, 1865.--By Indenture between the Bristol City Chambers
Company, Limited, (thereinafter called the Company) of the one part, and
the Right Honourable Edward John Lord Stanley of Alderley, Her Majesty's
Postmaster General for the time being, of the other part
"It is witnessed that in consideration of £8,000 paid by the said
Postmaster General to the said Company the said Company did thereby
grant and convey unto Her Majesty's Postmaster General his successors
and assigns--
"Firstly All that plot piece or parcel of ground situate in the Parish
of St.-Werburgh in the City of Bristol on the South West side of and
fronting to Small Street aforesaid specified in the plan drawn in the
margin of the first Skin of abstracting Indenture said piece of land
being therein distinguished by an edging of red color which said plot of
ground formed the site of a certain messuage warehouses and buildings
recently pulled down which said premises were in certain Deeds dated
13th February, 1861, described as 'All that messuage or Warehouse
situate on the South West side of and fronting to Small Street in the
City of Bristol then lately in the occupation of Messrs. Turpin &
Langdon Book Binders but then void and also all those Warehouses
Counting-house Rooms Yard and Buildings situate lying and being behind
and adjoining to the said last named messuage or Warehouse and then and
for some time past in the occupation of Messrs. John Freeman and Copper
Company and used by them for the purposes of their Co-partnership trade
and business.' Secondly, All that plot piece or parcel of ground
adjoining the heredits firstly thereinbefore described on the North
West side thereof and also fronting to Small Street aforesaid and
specified on the said plan and therein distinguished by an edging of
blue color which said plot of ground formed the site of certain premises
also then recently pulled down which said premises were in certain Deeds
dated 13th February 1861 described as "All that messuage or
dwelling-house formerly in the holding of Thomas Edwards Linen Draper
since that of William Lewis Tailor afterwards and for many years of John
Powell Rich then of George Smith as Tenants to Messrs. Bright & Daniel
afterwards of Daniel George but then unoccupied situate and being No. 6
in Small Street in the Parish of St.-Werburgh in the City of Bristol
between a messuage or tenement formerly in the possession of Messrs.
Harford & Coy. Iron Merchants but then of the Bristol Water Works
Company on or towards the north part and a Coach-house yard and premises
then formerly in the occupation of Richard Bright and Thomas Daniel and
then Co-partners trading under the Firm of the Bristol Copper Company
but then the property of the said James Ford on the South part and
extending from said Street called Small Street on the East part backward
to the West unto part of the ground built on by the said Copper Company
the Wall between the Warehouse and said messuage."
When, in the year 1867, the plan for this new Post Office building in
Small Street had been prepared and Treasury authority obtained for the
expenditure of a sum of £8,000 in the erection of the building, the
Inland Revenue Department asked for accommodation in the structure, and
it was arranged that its staff should be lodged on the first floor of
the new building. The building itself had, therefore, to be carried to a
greater height than had originally been contemplated. This alteration
cost £3,000. There is still evidence in the building of the occupation
of the Inland Revenue staff, iron gates and spiked barriers in the first
floor passage to cut off their rooms from the Post Office section still
remaining.
The authorities of the Post Office accepted tenders in September, 1887,
for the demolition of certain premises known as "New Buildings" and for
the erection thereon of additional premises for the accommodation of
the growing Postal staff. The work began on the 26th September. The cost
of the new wing was estimated at £16,000. Beneath the superstructure
there were two tiers of ancient cellars, one below the other, forming
part of the original mediæval mansion once owned by the Creswick family;
and the removal of these was attended with much difficulty. The new
building was opened for business on the 4th November, 1889.
In Parliament. Session 1903. Post Office (Acquisition of Sites) Power to
the Postmaster-General to acquire Lands, Houses, and Buildings in
Bristol for the service of the Post Office. Notice is hereby given that
application is intended to be made to Parliament in the next session for
an Act for the following purposes or some of them (that is to say):--To
empower His Majesty's Postmaster-General (hereinafter called 'the
Postmaster-General') to acquire for the service of the Post Office, by
compulsory purchase or otherwise, the lands, houses, and buildings
hereinafter described, that is to say:--
"Bristol: (Extension of Head Post Office). Certain lands, houses,
offices, buildings and premises situate in the parish of St. Werburgh,
in the city and county of Bristol, in the county of Gloucester, and
lying on the south-west side of Small Street, and the east side of St.
Leonards Lane."
[Illustration: [_By permission of "The Bristol Observer."_
THE BRISTOL POST OFFICE AS ENLARGED IN 1889.]
Thus commenced a portentous notice which appeared in a Bristol
newspaper, and had reference to the Bristol Water Works premises being
acquired for the further enlargement of the Post Office buildings.
The superficial area of the ground on which the Bristol Post Office
stands is a little over 17,000 square feet. The new site joins the
present Post Office structure, and has a frontage of 88 feet to Small
Street. Its area is 11,715 superficial feet, so that the enlargement
will be considerable but by no means excessive, having regard to the
extremely rapid development of the Bristol Post Office business.