A May 2017 tweet by Waterford author and historian Liam Cahill (sadly since deceased) alerted me to the significance of this particular “hole in the wall” at The Sweep Bar, Kilmeaden.

Most old Irish post boxes date from the pre-independence period and hundreds of letter slots around the country still bear the insignia of the crown — VR for Victoria Regina, ER (Edward VII) and GR (George V).

Edward was evidently the reigning monarch when this one was made, meaning it dates from between 1901 and 1910. It shows the Imperial crown, which would indicate it’s pre-1905, given that the Tudor crown was introduced to their design in the middle of the decade.

At that time the public house at The Sweep was known as O’Briens, I think. I’ve a vague recollection that the post box was previously located at the Kilmeaden entrance before being embedded in the wall of the pub, but I could be mistaken.

When Ireland gained independence in 1922, the government’s decision to give the originally-red post boxes a coat of green paint was a symbolic display of liberty in the eyes of many (see news snippet from that summer). UK-style boxes have often been “redecorated” by members of the nationalist community in the North.

Some southern boxes, whose doors were damaged by accident or design, would have had replacement Free State ones installed, while new cast-iron boxes, modeled on the British ones, were commissioned from Irish foundries, complete with harp motif.

While to some the sovereign emblems understandably represent a throwback to colonial times, before Queen Elizabeth’s visit in 2011, An Post said: “People are very protective of them [the version with Royal ciphers], and we find that in many areas people do not want anything done to them.”

Footnotes

1) Then known as Prince Albert Edward, the future King of England actually stopped in Kilmeaden en route to Curraghmore during the Royal visit to Ireland in April 1885.

2) The name “W. T. Allen & Co., London” can be seen beneath the door of the wall box at The Sweep. Architectural iron founders from 1881-1955, they had a contract for supplying the postal service with wall and lamp/pillar boxes. However, they were actually made by James Maude & Co. of Mansfield (aka Sherwood Foundry) who were responsible for providing the decorative cast-iron lap-standards used for the first electric street lighting in the UK on the Embankment in London.