Did you know until 2003 a hidden underground railway, separate from the tube network, used to ferry post across the capital? It’s just one of the secrets hidden in The Postal Museum, which contains records dating from 1636 including reports, maps, posters and photos, plus stamps and objects documenting the development of the Post Office.
Run by the Postal Heritage Trust, a charity responsible for the archive and museum collections of Royal Mail, the museum has five zones exploring 500 hundred years of the postal world’s most significant events, with interactive exhibits, sculptures and sheets of rare stamps. Ogle at a gold Olympic post box, decipher Morse code at a 1930s writing bureau, take on the role of a Mail Coach guard in an interactive game and watch films by the General Post Office’s own film unit including ‘Night Mail’ with words by W H Auden and music from Benjamin Britten.
You’ll see your letters in a whole new light after visiting this deep-dive into the Post Office’s 500-year history.
Make sure you ride on the Mail Rail, a clandestine set of tunnels originally opened in 1927 and used to shuttle post around London for almost 80 years before its closure in 2013.
Tuesday-Sunday 10am-5pm
£17.60, young person £12.20, child £10. Ticket includes unlimited access to The Postal Museum for one year from the date of your visit and one ride on Mail Rail, valid on your first visit to the Museum.
If you want the real low-down on the postal service and all its secrets, I’d highly recommend going on one of the museum’s Tunnel Walks, which take place on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday evenings. The guides who lead them really know their stuff, plenty of postal buffs were on my tour and there wasn’t one tricky question the guides weren’t able to answer. They let you take in the atmosphere of the 100-year-old, underground railway and give you access to the tunnels, tracks and station platforms. Along the way you learn the story of the rail line – through peacetime and war – and hear the odd creepy anecdote or two, in case walking along a tunnel under millions of tons of London clay doesn’t provide enough of a frisson. Look out for the children’s drawings created by the mail workers’ kids at Christmas and still pinned to the wall and the lockers staff used to keep their belongings in during their shifts.
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