post box

Wall-mounted cast-iron post box, erected c. 1935, having ‘Post Office’ in raised lettering over letter flap and ‘Carron Company Stirlingshire’ foundry mark to the base. Set into modern pier at crossroad site immediately to the south of Ballyshannon Bridge, and to the south of the town centre. Moved to its present location from another site, c. 2000.

This simple post box is an appealing, if subtle feature in the streetscape to the south of Ballyshannon town centre. The modest design of the post box is enhanced by the raised lettering, which enlivens the appearance of this otherwise functional object. It is unusual in that it doesn't have a royal cipher or later Irish insignia (P&T or SE) suggesting, perhaps that the original door was removed. Its survival is testament to the quality of its original design and of the materials used in its manufacturing. It was cast at the Carron Company foundry (est. 1759, and for a period during the first half of the nineteenth-century it was the largest iron foundry in Europe) in Stirlingshire, Scotland, and represents an interesting artefact of mass-produced cast-iron work. It may have been moved to its present site from another location in Ballyshannon, possibly from outside a building along East Port, a short distance to the east (Ordnance Survey twenty-five inch map 2006 illustrates a 'letter box' along East Port, possibly an earlier box).