The photo shows the High Street in about 1920. It was taken from roughly opposite The Old Police House, looking east. Barringtons' shop, which used to be between No 21 High Street (‘Stradone’) and Starlings, can be seen on the right.
The village Post Office has had several locations in the last 200 years, including 24 High Street (shown in the photograph).
A village Post Office was first mentioned in 1848. It is not clear where it was but in 1885 it was at 58, High Street, The Rowans, and remained there until about 1890.
The sepia-tinted photograph from the early 1900s shows Lewin and Emma Heath and their children outside The Rowans. One of the children, Oliver, would later become the Park Lane baker.
The building at 22 / 24 High Street may be one of the oldest in the village; it actually dates back over 300 years, although the crest shows that it was updated in the 1800s. It was possibly a baker’s at one time, as well as a draper’s shop. It was also the village Post Office 100 years ago, from about 1900 until about 1930. Letters used to arrive from Chippenham around 4:30 in the morning, and were guaranteed to be delivered to your house by 7am. If you wanted to post a letter, last collection to be taken to Chippenham was at 9:30 in the evening.
In the 1930s the Post Office was in 43 High Street, and then in the 1940s it was in the Corner Shop.
Note the sign on the left of the photo of 22-24 High Street; it is on the front of Barrington's Shop.
The houses at No 26 and 26A are the newest on the High Street but for nearly 50 years the Post Office was in a bungalow that used to be where No 26 is.
The Post Office moved here in about 1947. Twenty years ago the sub-postmaster was called Peter Smith, and when he retired in 2014 the Post Office moved to its current location in The Bell Hotel.
Can you help? Do you happen to have any photos of the Post Office when it used to be at No 26? If so, and you are happy to share them, please get in touch at:
The house opposite No 24 High Street, known as 'Stradone', still has its well in the front garden. There used to be another village shop, in a temporary building just to the left of 'Stradone', known as 'Barringtons' Shop'.
100 years ago there were very few houses with electricity and there was no mains water. About half the houses in the village had their own wells, which were shared with their neighbours. It was not until the 1920s that mains water arrived, and mains electricity arrived in the 1930s - although not immediately for everybody. Some houses in the village were still without mains water and electricity until the 1940s.
The Parish Newsletter for October 1931 records the following: ‘Our little village is now becoming quite up-to-date in its equipment, for not only is the electric light to illuminate the village streets and private houses and the Church, but it is also to be installed at the Rectory and in the Village Hall ... One hopes they will not be found too expensive a luxury. With an adequate water supply and a new system of heating the Sutton Benger Hall will be one of the most useful and best equipped in the country.'
Carry on along the High Street to Heath Avenue at the entrance to The Park
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