OLDEST - Letterbox in the World
N 50° 39.312 W 003° 58.655
30U E 430896 N 5611938
Cranmere Pool - The worlds first letterbox, Dartmoor Devon UK.
Waymark Code: WM20X3
Location: United Kingdom
Date Posted: 08/17/2007
Views: 67
In 1854 James Perrot of Chagford walked to Cranmere Pool from his home. It would have a challenging walk over many miles of inhospitable terrain across a remote part of the moor. At Cranmere James Perrot placed a bottle in a peat bank for his friends to find.
In 1970 a purpose built letterbox was placed here, a small plaque says:
APRIL1970, MADE BY APPRENTICES FROM H.M. DOCKYARD DEVONPORT AND GIVEN IN SERVICE TO THE DARTMOOR NATIONAL PARK AND THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH’S AWARD SCHEME.
From this one letterbox there are now thousands on the moor, there is a Dartmoor Letterboxing Club which publishes a catalogue every year, (
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Badges can also be obtained from the club from starting at 100 stamps collected to 5000 stamps collected.
These days it’s not too difficult to get to Cranmere from Okehampton by driving up the military ring road and parking at observation post 15 N 50° 40.356 W 003° 58.737 from here it's about a 20 minutes walk.
Many people visit the letterbox each year, on a weekend in the summer people even put their time of visit in the visitors book, it is surprising to read at someone had been there 10 minutes before, but looking around there’s not a soul about.
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