The old post office

The 1822 Census return for ‘West Street’ (Binham Road) is as follows.

No 1: Cottage inhabited by Massingham (no forename is given)

2: Ditto inhabited by Suggett

3: [-blank-]

4: Gamekeeper’s Lodges inhabited by John Withers

5: The Cottage - Alex Copland Esq

6: A Cottage - inhabited by Curle

This suggests that numbers 1 and 2 comprised a pair of semi-detached cottages, and certain features of the old post office building itself (now named Wizard’s End) tend to confirm this.

No post office in Langham is mentioned in Pigot’s Directory of 1839; it would seem that letters had to be taken in person to Cley or Blakeney, whence at 2.30 p.m. they were sent to Holt and dispatched the next morning at 10.30.

1839 and 1840 saw the postal reforms championed by Rowland Hill, who is often credited with the invention of the postage stamp. In the 1854 edition of The History, Gazetteer and Directory of Norfolk, we find this: ‘Post Office at John Massingham’s: letters arrive at 11 a.m., and are despatched at 2 p.m.’ Where, we do not know: perhaps to Blakeney for onward transmission to Holt.

Whether the Massingham of 1822 is the sub postmaster of 1854, again, we do not know. In 1822 no. 10 ‘East Street’ (Holt Road) was occupied by John Massingham, a blacksmith, and no. 11 by James Massingham, a pensioner.

At any rate, no. 1 ‘West Street’ was a functioning sub post office no later than 1854. The fact that the postbox was on the eastern side of the building may, just, be evidence that John Massingham lived on that side and not the other. He was still sub postmaster and a blacksmith in 1856 (Craven & Co’s Commercial Directory of Norfolk). Matters are complicated by the existence of an abattoir in a flint-and-brick outhouse at the eastern end of the building; the hook for hanging up a carcass is still there. This outhouse was also used at some stage as a stable.

The relevant Post Office directory of 1869 has this entry: Charles Osier, receiver. Letters arrive from Thetford at 11 a.m. & dispatched at 1.45 p.m. The nearest money order office is at Holt.

Harrod & Co’s directory of 1877 does not name the sub postmaster but says: ‘Postal Regulations. Letters arrive through Holt at 11 a.m., dispatched at 2 p.m. Post town, Dereham.’

The History, Gazetteer and Directory of Norfolk (1890) says: ‘POST OFFICE at Mr. Thomas Barnes’. Letters arrive at 7 a..m., and are despatched at 4 p.m., via East Dereham. Blakeney is the nearest Money Order Office.’

The 1892 Kelly’s Directory has this entry: ‘POST OFFICE. – Thomas Boast, sub-postmaster. Letters received from Dereham at 9 a.m & dispatched at 4 p.m. week days only. The nearest money order & telegraph office is at Blakeney. Postal orders are issued here, but not paid.’

The 1896 edition of the same directory lists the occupant of the post office as ‘Boast, Elijah Wm, shopkeeper’, so by then, at least, the building was also serving as some sort of shop. There were two other shops in the village at the time, each one a draper’s and grocer’s combined.

In 1901 there was no telegraph office at Langham, the nearest being at Field Dalling, confirmed by the 1904 Kelly’s: ‘Post & Postal Order Office – Elijah William Boast, sub-postmaster. Letters received from Blakeney R.S.O. arrive at 8 a.m. & 5.30 p.m. & dispatched at 6.45 a.m. & 3.55 p.m. week days; Sundays, arrive at 8.35 a.m.; dispatched at 9.25 p.m. The nearest money order & telegraph office is at Field Dalling, 2 miles distant. A board of managers was formed October 1st, 1903, for Langham, Morston & Cockthorpe; J. W. Tuck, Warham, Wells R.S.O. clerk.’ (R.S.O. stands for ‘Railway Sub Office’.)

The 1911 Census lists Elijah William Boast as ‘Sub Postmaster and Postman’; his wife’s name was Alice. According to the England & Wales National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966, he died on 19 October 1935.

Both of these photos were taken during his time. Maybe he himself, Alice or their children are visible in one or other of them.

Note the porch roof, which was demolished (twice, the second time not long after it was rebuilt) in WW2 by a female ambulance driver, as this late-1940s or early 1950s postcard shows.

Elijah Boast’s successor was a Mr Greenland, who was followed by Samuel Mullinder.

By 1971 the postbox had been moved to its present, westerly, position. (It is no longer in service and to emphasise that is painted blue.) A signboard covering the scar left by the luckless porch roof read CROSSROAD STORES and, below this, Agent for LAMBERT’S TEAS and, below that, LANGHAM POST OFFICE. (The photo concerned cannot be reproduced here for copyright reasons.)

In July 1984 David Butcher took over from Samuel Mullinder, but by 2004 various factors – not least the volume of trade drawn away from small general stores by the supermarkets – had combined to make the shop unviable and its street door was remade as a window.

The post office in Langham is now reduced to a weekly 30-minute visit by a van, though of course many of its services can also be accessed online. As in 1839, however, for the rest of the week villagers must go down to Blakeney if they need a physical post office. The more things change …