Bath Postal Museum

Address: 27 Northgate Street, Bath

Telephone: 01225 460 333

The first posting of a stamp (Penny Black) was from here in 1840. Follow the story of written communication from 2000BC.

How have the son of a Cornish publican, the manager of a Bath theatre, and a woman in black shaped what is an every day activity all around the world? That activity is… posting a letter.

Modern day postal systems have their roots in Bath, with Ralph Allen’s “cross-posts” and John Palmer’s mail-coaches; both ideas were developed locally.

And the woman in black??…is Queen Victoria, on the first stamp ever posted from anywhere, a Penny Black. The letter that bore it was written in our building which was the Bath Head Post Office at the time, May 2 1840.

You can learn more about these developments with a visit to the Bath Postal Museum, and also undertake a 4000 year journey following the written word from Ancient Egypt to “space mail”.

There are many original artefacts on display including quill pens and ink wells, stamp boxes, post boxes, post horns, clay tablets, strip maps, model mail coaches and of course, letters and postcards. There is a replica Victorian post office and we even have a carrier pigeon and a post office cat!!!

Location: 10 minutes walk from Bath Spa railway station, and coach station. 5 minutes walk from the Roman Baths Museum. Just off main shopping street.

Opening Hours:

Mon – Sat 11:00am – 5:00pm.

Admissions: