Post box in Gartnaneane

Wall-mounted cast-iron post box, erected c.1940, with raised 'P&T' cipher in Gaelic script above letter slot. Maker's name at base in raised lettering, overpainted with only 'Enniscorthy' legible. Set in a freestanding rendered pier with stepped cap at a rural road junction.

A fine piece of street furniture using a design introduced in the Victorian period, adapted after Independence to replace the royal cipher with that of the Department of Posts and Telegraphs. The Gaelic script is of particular interest reflecting the importance given to the Celtic identity in the new state. This particular design dates to after the Constitution of 1937, as earlier post-independence post boxes carried the 'S.E.' cipher of the Irish Free State, Saorstat Eireann. The manufacturer appears to have been Jessop Davis of Enniscorthy (closed 1964), also known as Saint John's Foundry.