I'm hoping that someone with Essex local history research experience might be able give me some pointers! I know it's not directly genealogy-relevant, but I also know that there's a lot of Essex knowledge here (grovels to Elmo and Dudley). I'm trying to date the photograph on a postcard I've just bought on ebay of Great Sampford. The biggest clue as to the date is the telegraph poles with no cross pieces, as opposed to the ones with two cross pieces and several insulators visible in a card of the same part of the village sent in 1932. It was written on, assuming the date given is correct, Wednesday July 20th, which a perpetual calender tells me occurred in 1921 and 1927. Obviously the cards concerned must pre-date all of these dates - so can anyone give me any clues as to when the telegraph poles might have arrived in Great Sampford first? I considered trade directories, but I only have 1914 and 1933, which doesn't help. Many thanks, Adrian

Hi Adrian. I tried to look at other postcards of Gt Sampford on eBay; saw one posted 1934 but the only recently sold one I could find with a pole has the top of it cut off by the top of the postcard! My few thoughts, for what they are worth: seek other images of the same place and places very near by, of different dates, to try to chart the changes in local poles. It may also be worth seeing if the line of poles in question is shown on any old, large scale OS maps (at ERO or via eBay - or maybe oldmaps.com though these may not be of large enough scale). You could then look for images of other poles on the same route, and also research the history of the line itself, as well as its termini and other ports of call. Secondly, no insulators would suggest low voltage, i.e. a genuine telegraph or telephone line, as opposed to mains or other HV electricity, which would need insulators, or at least bigger insulators. If I remember right, phone lines are or used to be only 50 volts. As you've already thought of, directories might give a clue as top when people in the village first had telephones. Persevere with that - adverts for local businesses and prominent buildings (civic, communications, alcoholic) and court listings of grander private residences would be worth seeking out. These could then be plotted on a local map in order to work out where the lines might have run. The local historical society, if there is one, may well have such material. Also try further afield, such as neighbouring villages and the nearest town - they would all be part of a cabling network which must have grown more or less linearly from central hub (town) to village and then the next village in the same direction. Trace the source in other words. Another approach, though it would be a long, boring slog, would be to study telegraph poles on eBay postcards in general, and via Google Images, noting down whenever an image is datable, such as your 1932/34 example. Record Office images would be ideal, since they are usually dated quite reliably, even if only approximately sometimes. Then maybe there's a district or county newspaper article on the first arrival of these contraptions? Lastly, maybe this website might help: http://www.telegraphpole.org/ - but don't look at the "Whence they Came" link! In fact, the whole site is very odd - they must have got electrocuted trying to collect insulators. Cheers, Lawrence On 05/04/2013 09:43, Adrian Gray wrote: > I'm hoping that someone with Essex local history research experience might > be able give me some pointers! I know it's not directly genealogy-relevant, > but I also know that there's a lot of Essex knowledge here (grovels to Elmo > and Dudley). > > I'm trying to date the photograph on a postcard I've just bought on ebay of > Great Sampford. The biggest clue as to the date is the telegraph poles with > no cross pieces, as opposed to the ones with two cross pieces and several > insulators visible in a card of the same part of the village sent in 1932. > It was written on, assuming the date given is correct, Wednesday July 20th, > which a perpetual calender tells me occurred in 1921 and 1927. > > Obviously the cards concerned must pre-date all of these dates - so can > anyone give me any clues as to when the telegraph poles might have arrived > in Great Sampford first? I considered trade directories, but I only have > 1914 and 1933, which doesn't help. > > Many thanks, > > Adrian > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Any problems, please contact the List Admin: Essex-UK-admin@rootsweb.com > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ESSEX-UK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >

The place index in the February 1923 Post Office Telephone directory Southern division does not contain Great Sampford. Not sure when the information was complied before publication Need to try looking for later years until it appears. Cheers Howard GOONS no 3175 www.lavertowers.co.uk -----Original Message----- From: Adrian Gray Sent: Friday, April 05, 2013 9:43 AM To: essex-uk@rootsweb.com Subject: [Ess] Dating telegraph poles... I'm hoping that someone with Essex local history research experience might be able give me some pointers! I know it's not directly genealogy-relevant, but I also know that there's a lot of Essex knowledge here (grovels to Elmo and Dudley). I'm trying to date the photograph on a postcard I've just bought on ebay of Great Sampford. The biggest clue as to the date is the telegraph poles with no cross pieces, as opposed to the ones with two cross pieces and several insulators visible in a card of the same part of the village sent in 1932. It was written on, assuming the date given is correct, Wednesday July 20th, which a perpetual calender tells me occurred in 1921 and 1927. Obviously the cards concerned must pre-date all of these dates - so can anyone give me any clues as to when the telegraph poles might have arrived in Great Sampford first? I considered trade directories, but I only have 1914 and 1933, which doesn't help. Many thanks, Adrian ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Any problems, please contact the List Admin: Essex-UK-admin@rootsweb.com ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ESSEX-UK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Look for the nearest locations around Great Stampford that it does contain. GS will almost certainly have been the same. Cheers Steve On 05/04/2013 14:05, Howard Laver wrote: > The place index in the February 1923 Post Office Telephone directory > Southern division does not contain Great Sampford. > Not sure when the information was complied before publication > Need to try looking for later years until it appears. > > Cheers > Howard > GOONS no 3175 > www.lavertowers.co.uk > >