The Post Office

The first known owner that we’ve found was the Rev. Roger Edwards – rector of Llanfechell from 1836 till his death in 1868 when his eldest son – the Rev. William Christopher Edwards - Llanfair PG inherited it.

Letters for all members of Houses of Parliament, Commons and Lords were free of charge. After the Uniform Penny Postage of 1840 there was a seven fold increase in the volume of post.

Up until 1858 the post was delivered by an Amlwch foot messenger – John Edwards who delivered to Cemaes and Llanfechell.

John Edwards applied for an increase in wages as did the postmistress of Cemaes Bay after her salary was reduced from £4 to £3 per annum.

John Edwards' letter

Amlwch 1855

Sir,

I take the liberty of writing and to bring my case before you.

I have been appointed to the situation of a letter carrier between Amlwch, Cemaes and LLanfechell, Anglesey for the last three years, and I trust that I have given satisfaction to everyone in my route ever since. Having a large family to support with my 10 /- weekly wages I humbly beg that you will have the kindness that my wages be increased a few shillings, which would greatly add to the comfort of myself and family.

I have the honour to be .Sir,

Your most obedient humble servant

John Edwards

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Cemaes Postmistress Letter

This letter was dated 22nd Nov. 1855 and for the attention of Rowland Hill Esq.

Post Office Cemaes

Anglesey

North Wales

Sir,

The Sub Office has been established at this place for about fifteen years and was conducted by my mother till the time of her death which event occurred in February 1853. She received a salary of £4 per annum. Being in a state of debility for several years previous to her demise I generally discharged the duty for her. Mr Pritchard said I had done the duty satisfactorily and therefore appointed me to fill her place. Mother had applied several times in vain for an advance in salary. On my nomination to office however, the amount was reduced to £3. Why that should be done when I have discharged the duty satisfactorily is a mystery to me. There is no privilege connected with the office except a commission of 10% on the stamps.

I am Sir

Your obedient servant

Elizabeth Jones

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Petition

In January 1856 a petition was received by the Post Master General signed by 78 local inhabitants of Llanfechell including William Bulkeley Hughes, to have a local Post Office. The petition was refused. North Wales

Anglesey

North Wales

Sir,

I am Sir

Your obedient servant

Elizabeth Jones

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Deiseb

Yn Ionawr 1856 derbyniodd y Post Feistr Cyffredinol ddeiseb wedi'i arwyddo gan 78 o blwyfolion Llanfechell gan William Bulkeley Hughes, i gael Swyddfa Bost lleol. Gwrthodwyd y ddeiseb.

Anglesey

North Wales

Sir,

I am Sir

Your obedient servant

Elizabeth Jones

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Deiseb

Yn Ionawr 1856 derbyniodd y Post Feistr Cyffredinol ddeiseb wedi'i arwyddo gan 78 o blwyfolion Llanfechell gan William Bulkeley Hughes, i gael Swyddfa Bost lleol. Gwrthodwyd y ddeiseb.

To His Grace

The Postmaster General

The Humble Petition of the inhabitants of Llanfechell and the neighbourhood.

Showeth

That great inconvenience occurs for the want of a Post Office in the village of Llanfechell with its immediate neighbouring parishes, a population of about four thousand.

That the letters at present for the said locality – owing to the distance from Cemaes are now delivered by the Letter Carrier at the shop of Mr Hugh Pritchard at Llanfechell.

That the said shopkeeper is dissatisfied to make delivery of letters without some renumeration for his trouble.

That therefore the humble petitioners take leave to solicit your Grace the Postmaster General to establish a Post Office at Llanfechell similar to the one at Cemaes. The letters and newspapers delivered at Llanfechell are on an average 250 per week.

For the Secretary,

I beg to return the enclosed Petition from the inhabitants of Llanfechell, a village on the walk of the rural post messenger from Amlwch, under Bangor, to Cemaes and Llanfechell, for the accommodation of a Post Office. The Sub Postmistress of Cemaes and the messenger, on whose beat these places are situate, having also applied for an increase in their salary and wages. I beg to forward the enclosed “Detailed Return” of an arrangement which I propose in lieu of the one now in existence.

The salary of the Sub Postmistress of Cemaes is now correct, according to the scale. I do not propose, therefore, to make any alteration in that respect.

The messenger is certainly deserving of some addition to his pay, as he walks quite 14 miles a day.

The Postmaster General,

Having considered the circumstances of this case as represented in the enclosed report from Mr Beaufort, I submit for your Grace’s approval that –

The wages of the Amlwch & Llanfechell messenger be raised from 10/- a week to 12/- a week.

The post would not be self supporting if the expense of maintaining an office at Llanfechell were incurred and I cannot therefore recommend your Grace to sanction its establishment.

14th Feb 1856

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Proposal to increase wages of Amlwch & Llanfechell Messenger. Establishment of Office at Llanfechell refused.

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On 1st May 1858 Llanfechell Sub Post Office opened

On 1st May 1858 Llanfechell Sub Post Office opened. The Sub postmistress appointed was Mrs Jane Jones on an annual salary of £5, she was replaced in April 1863 by her husband, Robert, listed in Slaters directory of 1868 as “a grocer, draper and dealer of sundries”.

In 1879 the Rev. William Christopher Edwards leased the Post Office building and about 2 acres of land to Robert Jones, Jane his wife and their daughter Margaret for the term of 21 years, for the yearly rent of £16.

Slater’s directory 1885 shows Robert Jones as “ sub-postmaster” 9am to 3.35pm. He and his wife and daughter left soon after and moved to Penrhos. Llanfechell.

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Letters arrived from Rhosybol post office (established 1852) by foot messenger each morning at 10.30 and were dispatched thereto at 3.05 in the afternoon where they were collected by horse post and taken to the Head office at Bangor.

25 sub post offices were opened on Anglesey at that time.

By 1880 the service had improved, with the mail arriving in Llanfechell at 9.30am and leaving at 3.35 pm, thus giving more time for a reply to be made by return of post.

The letter carrier who brought the mail from Rhosybol at this time was Hugh Pritchard who had been appointed in August 1872. In 1882 Llanfechell was designated as a Money Order & Savings Bank Office, and a wall box erected at Llanfflewin. A lamp box was later placed at Tyddyn Fadog.

Rhosgoch sub post office opened in 1887 and it was from there and not Rhosybol that the mail was delivered to Llanfechell by horse post.

Llanfechell Postmarks

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Postmen

Little is known of the early postmen, but the two operating from the Llanfechell office at the closing of the nineteenth century were:

Robert Jones (born 17th June 1880) was appointed on his 16th birthday to carry mail to Llanfflewin and Mynydd Mechell at 6/6d a week.

William Williams (born 13 Nov 1880) was appointed on 18th August 1902 for the Caerdegog walk, also at 6/6d a week. He resigned on 27th June 1908 and was replaced by John Roberts Parry (born 30th July 1878) who continued until 13 May 1911

Cemlyn Postman

They were part time postmen working a split shift of 6 hours a day, delivering in the morning and walking back with their collections in the early afternoon. The intervening period would be spent off duty doing other work to supplement their low post office earnings.

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The Post c 1900

The 1901 census shows William Rowlands and his sister Winnie both born in Pwllheli, occupying the Post Office. It is not known if he or his sister held the post of sub- postmaster or whether Robert Jones held it until the appointment of Laura C. Davies in 1902, a single woman of 22. The following year she married Cadwaladr Davies, a schoolmaster who lived at 1 Glandwr at the time with his sister Miriam Davies.

Cadwaladr and Laura Davies

Women who married during their employment of office had to obtain permission from the Post Office “to retain their appointment in their own name”, and in June 1903 she was permitted to do so.

Laura Davies received £12.18s per annum ( 5 shillings a week) when appointed. Full time postmen were earning between 17 and 23 shillings a week. Farm labourers were earning 15/- a week. By 1910 the volume of mail had doubled since her appointment and her basic salary was increased to £31.15s. and was supplemented by a small commission on the volume of business transacted – one per cent on the sale of postage stamps plus a complicated structure of payment on the sale of money orders and Savings Bank transactions.

Llanfechell, like other Anglesey sub post offices was a scale-payment office where the postmaster/mistress had to provide the premises and assistants (when necessary).

They were not established staff and were mostly small shop-keepers who regarded the Post Office salary as a welcome side line to their main income. Underpaid for long hours of work = in excess of 74 hours a week. Laura Davies was open from 8 am till 8 pm on weekdays – with no half day, and from 8 am to 10.30 am on Sundays and Bank Holidays. No rest on Christmas Day either as she was open for two hours in the morning. They had 2 sons – John Rowland , and Cadwaladr Wyn . The Post Office was getting exceptional value from Laura Davies and her colleagues in other rural sub post offices and they openly admitted that “in no other way could the service be supplied with such little expense to the public purse”. No surprise that the Post Office was showing huge profits during the years leading up to the First World War, despite the fact that the postage had not been increased for over 70 years.

In 1916 Cadwaladr Davies bought the Post Office for £300. The following year their son died aged 8, Laura Davies died 7 years later in 1924 aged 43 and in 1926 her husband Cadwaladr took the post of schoolmaster at Cemaes.

Robert Owen Edwards followed as the postmaster until 1930.

Around this time it was Thomas Williams ( Mountain Road ) who delivered the mail around Llanfechell and Mynydd Mechell finishing in Ty Newydd Gwenynog. A fair walk carrying all the mail and parcels tied together with string hung around his neck, covering himself with a large cape to keep dry.

Miss Jean Jones – Calfaria remembers attending a presentation being held at Jerusalem chapel schoolroom where the late Mrs Williams Penllyn presented Thomas Williams on behalf of the parish with an ornate walking stick for his good services. The poor man must have needed it after all that walking.

Hugh Parry - the Rhosgoch postmaster would collect the mail from the 6.am train, bring it to Llanfechell on his bike before carrying on his delivery from Llanfechell up to Llanfairynghornwy, then doing the collections on his way back. Mrs Jean Jones also remembers a small corrugated iron shed in the vicinity of the garage/playing field that was used by the postman to wait for collection time and to have a cup of tea. Later when there was no further need for it, it was given to her father and used as a shed.

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This is a postcard sent from Fron Deg, Mynydd Mechell to Ty Newydd, stamped with a halfpenny stamp in 1911. A distance of less than a mile at a time when postcards were very popular and delivery was guaranteed next day

Dear Mrs Nell Williams,

As I have been blamed for not sending a ready reply to your P.C. you might as well receive it now with the same satisfaction. Thanking you in earnest for it. Believe me. Yours.

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In 1931 Cadwaladr Davies sold the Post Office to Mr. D.R. Evans and his wife Ceridwen.

He was postmaster until 1934 when they sold to Mr. T.W. Edwards and his wife Laura.

In 1949 Mr Edwards sold a piece of land to Parry & Hughes for £25. It became part of their builders yard.

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Llanfechell postcard sent 1934

Postcard sent from Jean, Mr & Mrs Edwards’ daughter to her friend in 1941..

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Around this time Mair Williams – Plas was a postwoman.

Miss Mair Williams, Plas

Mr and Mrs Edwards

Megan and Harry Roberts

Mr Edwards Post as he was known was postmaster for the next 30 years until 1964 when they sold to Mr & Mrs J. B. Griffiths (Grace Newry).

They were only there for 2 years before selling to Mr & Mrs H G Roberts who we all remember as Megan and Harry Post. who were there until 1993 when they sold to their daughter Nesta and husband Owen Roberts

Post Office in 1970

They sold to Mark and Angela Wright in 1998

Earliest box in the vicinity is c1900 ( left)

Sadly the building is no longer a post office and is now known as The Old Post Office.