I wonder how many letters Mr Ernest Marriot posted in this pillar box?
He was the secretary and librarian of “the Portico Library and Newsroom” which is in the building that includes our post box.
The Portico Library which still occupies the upper floor of the building dates back to 1806 and predates our pillar box by some decades.
The Library is an elegant place with an air of serious learning which makes it easy to slip back two and bit centuries to when it was opened offering its subscribers thousands of books as well as newspapers from across the country
If you do get that invitation or just take advantage of one of the special exhibitions you enter by a side door on Charlotte Street, ascend a few flights of stone stairs and the magic begins.
Alternatively there is always the pub which is now called The Bank, and before anyone expresses sadness at the change of use of part of the Library, it is worth noting that the downstairs area which was the Reading Room was surrendered to a bank back in the 1920s and remained so until relatively recently.
All of which takes me back to the pillar box.
Peter and I were on the first of our research trips exploring the 79 pubs which will feature in the new book and having met Duncan who manages The Bank I asked Peter to turn the post box into a painting.
We debated whether to lose the stickers and scribble, but in the interests of historical accuracy I think we will keep them in.
At which point I am sure someone will mutter “we are not amused” given that this was one of the old Queen’s post boxes.
But that would be to repeat a much misunderstood quotation from Queen Victoria, who apparently used it in the context of a rather drunken oaf who was making unfunny and obscene jokes at the dinner table.
Now I have to confess I have never used the post box but rather think it is time to do so. Peter tells me that he is minded to convert his painting into one of his picture postcards which I will then post to me from the box.
Daft maybe but fun.
Location; Manchester
Painting, postbox outside The Bank bar © 2016, Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures,
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk
The Portico Library which still occupies the upper floor of the building dates back to 1806 and predates our pillar box by some decades.
The Library is an elegant place with an air of serious learning which makes it easy to slip back two and bit centuries to when it was opened offering its subscribers thousands of books as well as newspapers from across the country
If you do get that invitation or just take advantage of one of the special exhibitions you enter by a side door on Charlotte Street, ascend a few flights of stone stairs and the magic begins.
Alternatively there is always the pub which is now called The Bank, and before anyone expresses sadness at the change of use of part of the Library, it is worth noting that the downstairs area which was the Reading Room was surrendered to a bank back in the 1920s and remained so until relatively recently.
All of which takes me back to the pillar box.
Peter and I were on the first of our research trips exploring the 79 pubs which will feature in the new book and having met Duncan who manages The Bank I asked Peter to turn the post box into a painting.
We debated whether to lose the stickers and scribble, but in the interests of historical accuracy I think we will keep them in.
At which point I am sure someone will mutter “we are not amused” given that this was one of the old Queen’s post boxes.
But that would be to repeat a much misunderstood quotation from Queen Victoria, who apparently used it in the context of a rather drunken oaf who was making unfunny and obscene jokes at the dinner table.
Now I have to confess I have never used the post box but rather think it is time to do so. Peter tells me that he is minded to convert his painting into one of his picture postcards which I will then post to me from the box.
Daft maybe but fun.
Location; Manchester
Painting, postbox outside The Bank bar © 2016, Peter Topping, Paintings from Pictures,
Web: www.paintingsfrompictures.co.uk
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