Verwood: postbox № BH31 219, The Chase

Image: © Chris Downer Taken: 8 Nov 2009

This postbox is given the number BH21 219 on the Royal Mail's list of postboxes – suggesting a BH21 postcode rather than BH31. The list correctly locates it as 'The Chase' but suggests the Canford Magna area 10 miles or so southwest. It has therefore taken me a good while to track it down! Verwood did come under BH21 (Wimborne) until March 1991 when the Royal Mail decided it had grown big enough to be a post town in its own right: this portion of BH21 was simply renumbered BH31 with the second half of the postcode remaining the same. (Until then, the BH area went up only to 25.) The information plate on the box says it is number BH31 17, but even that is wrong because that is the one in Ringwood Road! The postman, assuming he knows where to find it, empties the box finally at 4pm on weekdays and at 7:30am on Saturdays. Looking down The Chase, we see that its old concrete lampposts are being replaced by new metal ones, with three new ones covering the distance of two old ones. To the left, we see old and new side-by-side.

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