Looking back with Ian Scott on the history of Falkirk's mail delivery

Given that it costs £1.50 to park in the Howgate for just a few minutes, that first class stamp seems a bit of a bargain!

It is all a long way from the early days of the posts when ‘runners’ carried letters on foot from the major cities and the vast majority of the population would neither send nor receive a letter in their lives. In the 17th century, wealthy individuals and businessmen were served by these runners who would leave Edinburgh for Glasgow stopping overnight in Falkirk and taking two days to cover the 48 miles of rough and dangerous roads. If they made it safely to the town the local post would be left with an agent who would be a local lawyer or bank manager. It was then up to the addressee to come and collect his mail. Sometimes the runner would be attacked and robbed of the mail and occasionally the runner ‘did a runner’ himself with the bag if he thought it had bank notes or cash. One account in 1737 talks about “James Johnston, the post betwixt Glasgow and Falkirk who was robbed and wounded by which wound he died . . . to his wife for burying him, etc - £9 9 shillings”.

Falkirk’s first official ‘post office’ opened in 1689 probably in Bank Street and by the mid 1700s it was on the south side of the High Street opposite the steeple. Thereafter it moved to Baxter’s Wynd, entered from what was called ‘Post Office Close’, and later to King’s Court.

By the middle of the 19th century it was in lower Newmarket Street and things had improved with regular stage coaches and horse posts from Edinburgh to both Glasgow and Stirling. Once the mail reached Falkirk it was still carried by foot runners to a number of Receiving Houses (the future sub Post Offices) in Camelon, Carron, Grahamston, Larbert, Laurieston and Polmont. Companies picked up and dropped their mail once a day except for the mighty Carron Company which was allowed to collect and deliver four times a day. Later on the runners began to call in at mansion houses and big companies on their way from Head Office and the modern system began to emerge.

The arrival of the railways and later motor cycles and vans helped the service cope with a massive increase in business and by the end of the 19th century the authorities in Falkirk decided that they needed a grand new Head Post Office. The result was the fantastic building in Vicar Street which opened on October 30, 1893. With its amazing concoction of styles and features, as well as the menagerie of lions and unicorns on the roof, it remains one of the town’s landmark buildings. It served until 1971 to be replaced by the rather more mundane building in Garrison Place. Of course it is now closed and we must all go to the Howgate and fork out £1.50!