Oldest in the World

Our speaker on Tuesday night (27 November) is Duncan Close from Sanquhar, who will be telling us a bit about the oldest post office in the world.

The Sanquhar post office had long been accepted as the oldest in Britain  It has been operating since 1712 and is now reckoned to be the oldest in the world..
At the time the post office started, the Crowns of England and Scotland had not long been united. There was considerable activity in the border areas of both lands and one of the most important and influential families of the day was the Crichton family, who owned Sanquhar Castle.
In 1712 a service known as the "Nithsdale cross-post" was established, with mail-runners on horseback delivering messages among the landed gentry on both sides of the Scottish-English border.
When  Robert Burns was alive in the latter part of the 18th century, he was great friends with the owner of Sanquhar post office, and the fireplace in the living room of the building was constructed from elm trees grown by Burns at his farm at Ellisland Farm, near Dumfries.

Come along on Tuesday night and learn more.