Birmingham Philatelic Society
The Birmingham Post Office in the First Half
of the 19th Century
New Street despite its name, is one of the oldest streets in Birmingham dating back to at least 1397 but our story opens at the beginning of the 19th century when it was asserting itself as the principal street in a town whose population had grown from 50,000 in 1780 to 74,000 by 1801.
The hub of New Street was at the lower end near the High Street. It was from here that the Swine Market was removed so that Swan Alley could be opened up and Worcester Street continued into High Street. Here too was located the handsome new Hen and Chickens Hotel which had replaced an old hostelry of the same name in the High Street. This was one of the major departure points from Birmingham with up to 20 coaches leaving each day to all parts of the country.
The clatter of wheels and neighing of horses added to the cacophony of sound eminating from the many nearby businesses - builders and coopers, tin plate manufacturers and wire drawers. But a little further up the road, opposite the Free School at number 18 was Thomas Bate, tailor and woollen drapers, competing aggressively no doubt with his nearby rival George Bott. James Chapman was located here with his warehouse of perfumes and London hats. These gave way to a legal quarter of the city with its myriad of offices housing attorneys and their scribes, busily instigating and defending endless disputes between the populace.
The top of New Street, however, was still a pleasant meadow, although a new church was planned to be built there. Corn grew on the slopes of Bennetts Hill, sold, no doubt, through James Cheshire, a corn factor located at the bottom of the hill in New Street. It was at this end of the street that the new theatre with its superb portico had been built. Almost opposite stood the primitive little Post Office. A plain two storey house, the home of Mr. Gottwaltz, the postmaster, where the right hand ground floor room had been converted to the use of His Majesty's mail. The doorway containing a small window for the purpose of posting letters and above it was fixed an oil lamp which feebly attempted to light up this "public office" in the hours of darkness. Adjacent to the house was a rick yard with accommodation for the mail coaches and stabling for the horses. The post office had at the time a farm near Moseley where they grew their own hay, bringing it to New Street to be stored in ricks to feed the horses. This was in actual fact Birmingham's third post office.
The Post Office and postmaster's house, demolished in 1818 to make way for the construction of Bennets Hill. (This was Birmingham's third post office)
