The Post Office occupied the site now covered by Lilly and Addinsell's
shop. The New Street frontage was the dwelling house of Mr. Gottwaltz,
the post-master. A little way up Bennetts Hill was a semicircular
cove, or recess, in which two people might stand. Here was a slit,
into which letters were dropped, and an "inquiry" window; and this was
all. There were seven other receiving houses in the town, which were
as follows: Mr. Hewitt, Hagley Row; Mr. E. Gunn, 1, Kenion Street; Mr.
W. Drury, 30, Lancaster Street; Mr. Ash, Prospect Row; Mr. White,
235, Bristol Street; Miss Davis, Sand Pits; and Mrs. Wood, 172, High
Street, Deritend. Two deliveries took place daily--one at 8 a.m., the
other at 5 p.m. The postage of a "single" letter to London then was
ninepence; but a second piece of paper, however small, even the half
of a bank note, made it a "double" letter, the postage of which was
eighteenpence.
Between Needless Alley and the house now occupied by Messrs. Reece and
Harris, as offices, were three old-fashioned and rather dingy looking
shops, of which I can tell a curious story.
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