The Victorian post cart being wheeled through Dulwich Village 140 years later

A Victorian post cart wheeled around Dulwich village 140 years ago has been carefully restored and brought to the Royal Mail Dulwich Delivery Office, Alleyn Park.

The 1883 cart, used to transport post to 19th-century Dulwich Villagers, was discovered in a Tower Bridge antique shop by two Dulwich Society members.

Kenneth Wolfe and his wife Gillian persuaded the Dulwich Society to buy it for £750. Kenneth, president of the Dulwich Society, said: “It’s local and it’s the only one of its kind. No doubt there were many other post carts up and down the country in the middle of the nineteenth century. 

“But there aren’t any left like this which is why it’s so interesting. It’s a window into the business of communication before 1922.” 

Research conducted by the Dulwich Society showed that, by the early 1880s, the six daily deliveries postmen made were getting too heavy.

So the General Post Office (GPO) sanctioned the use of handcarts. In 1915, the GPO introduced a nationally standardised cart with a wicker top that replaced the Dulwich Village cart. 

The Dulwich Village cart had all its original fittings and has been carefully restored by experienced restorer Willis Walker and assisted by Graham Nash.

Wheelwrights, metal workers and paint expert Ian Bristow all chipped in. Just one side of the cart was repainted while the other was kept in its original form. 

The cart is now regularly used for events. In 2008, Dulwich Society member Frank Ralfe pulled it through Dulwich in a Victorian postman costume supplied by the National Theatre. 

In 2009, it took part in the Marking of Carts at Guildhall. A tradition since 1517, the ceremony sees carts branded with hot irons – an early form of licensing. 

The cart emerged for the Queen’s platinum jubilee, is a fixture of Dulwich Square concerts and will be wheeled out again this Christmas. 

Kenneth, who has also pulled the cart through the Village, said: “They must have had fairly strong post-cart pullers. It was heavy without anything in it. It is good for one’s arm muscles!”

After a stint on the porch outside Rosebery Lodge, the cart was taken to the Alleyn Park Sorting Office where it still draws crowds. 

Local historian Sharon O’Connor said: “Quite a lot of people see it now because that’s the place where you go to pick your mail up so it has a steady stream of people queuing up beside it. 

“The postmaster said people were more eager to go to collect their post since the post cart arrived!”

The Dulwich Society gives regular local history talks which you can find out more about here.  

You can also follow @DulwichHistory on Twitter and join the Dulwich Society for £10 pa which includes a quarterly printed journal and a monthly eNews.