Exhibition: Pop it in the Post: Your World at the end of the street

For over 160 years, people in Britain have been able to stick a stamp on a letter and post the letter into a pillar box – keeping in touch with people in cities, towns and villages everywhere.

This family-friendly exhibition explores the new and sometimes quirky ideas that made this possible.

Discover the story of the letter writing revolution, enabled by the world’s first ever stamp, and the UK’s first pillar boxes. Meet the individuals who made this possible, and understand how millions of people’s lives were changed. The world was now available to everyone - simply through the pillar box (so-called because of its resemblance to a pillar or to a column) at the end of your street.

2015 is the 200th anniversary of the birth of the novelist Anthony Trollope. When working for the Post Office, Trollope first suggested the idea of the pillar box for the UK. They were introduced in 1852. 2015 also marks the 175th anniversary of the Penny Black – the world’s first adhesive stamp, introduced in 1840.