post box

Cast-iron post box, erected c. 1935, having ‘Post Office’ in raised lettering over projecting letter flap and ‘Carron Company Stirlingshire’ foundry mark to the base. Still in use. Secured to timber post/pole in the rural landscape to the east/north-east of Gleann Cholm Cille/Glencolumbkille adjacent to road junction.

This simple post box is an appealing feature in the scenic rural landscape to the east/north-east of Gleann Cholm Cille/Glencolumbkille. The modest design of the post box is enhanced by the raised lettering, which enlivens the appearance of this otherwise purely functional object. Its survival is testament to the quality of its original design and manufacture. It was cast at the Carron Company foundry (est. 1759, and was the largest iron foundry in Europe for a period during the first half of the nineteenth-century) in Stirlingshire, Scotland, and represents an interesting surviving artefact of mass-produced cast-iron work. It is unusual in that it doesn't have a royal cipher or later Irish insignia. It is located at close to a rural road junction, which is a logical and common location for post boxes, and remains an important element of the social fabric of the dispersed rural settlement of this area.