Boothstown's Post Offices

Before sub-post offices were established, 'Receiving Houses' were used for receiving local mail. These could be housed in an inn, a blacksmith's, a grocer's shop, etc. The indication is that a Receiving House was established in Boothstown in 1855, prior to which the village had been served by a Receiving House in Astley.

The rear of the envelope in following picture shows a Boothstown Receiving House stamp (undated) - this stamp was issued from the GPO London via Manchester on 5 November 1855. The policy of issuing undated name stamps ceased in 1859, after which their use rapidly decreased (they are not found after 1861). The letter below was sent with a one penny stamp, date franked in Manchester on 16 October 1858. It was sent to an address in Glasgow where it was stamped the following day (17 October 1858). Presumably it was handled in Boothstown en route.

It is believed that Boothstown has had three post offices. The first was located near the junction of Leigh Road and Victoria Street. The location is indicated in the photograph below, although this was taken in 1945 when the post office had moved to its present (third) location. The first post office would have been to the right of the Victoria Street junction as seen from the photo below, in the shop next to the right hand corner shop. The post master in this first Boothstown post office was John Edge.

The second post office in Boothstown was located at the point from which the above photograph was taken, ie at the corner of Leigh Road and Garden Lane. The post office is shown in the photograph below. It was also a grocer's shop and wine merchant, and was run by James Ruffley. The shop later became Moyle's fish and chip shop.

The present post office in Boothstown is the third location, at the junction of Leigh Road and Simpson Road, opposite the Royal Oak pub. The post office can be seen on the extreme left of the photograph below. The photograph was taken around 1947 and shows the chimney of Yates's mill and the trolley bus overhead cables. To the left of the lorry on the road is the newsagents, now demolished, at the corner of Victoria Street. The present post office was reconstructed in 1993.

The shop on the site of the present post office was once Daniel and Sarah Hilton's hardware shop. Daniel, in panama hat, can be seen on the photograph below watching road repairs in around 1895. The Greyhound pub is in the background.

The photograph below was taken in the garden of 'The Privets' in August 1909, at the wedding of Edith Hilton and Frank Mather. This is the garden of the present post office.

The photograph below (2005) shows the modern post office. The white building to the right (now a hairdresser's) was once the butcher's shop of Mr. Simpson.