Industrial History Online

Mount Pleasant Sorting Office and Post Office Railway

Record Visibility is - Public

Record Status - Reviewed Site Record

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Site ID :- GTL00220
Key Words :- Post Office, underground railway, mail rail
Linked Sites :-
GTL02564,Post Office Railway

Address :- Farringdon Road, London, Greater London, EC1 1AZ
Grid Reference :- TQ 311 824
Grid Co-ordinates :- Easting 531100 m, Northing 182400 m
Lat & Long (WGS84) :- 51.525305 , -0.111623
View Historic Mapping
Site Location :-
Viewing Site :-
Parish or Township :-
Administrative Area :- Islington London Borough Council
Pre 1974 County :- Greater London Council
Site Status :- Site extant - Protected status unknown
Site Condition :- Operational site, in use for original purpose
Site Era :-Early Modern 1850-1950 to Modern Post 1950
Site Dates :- 1889 -
Visit By :- -

Contributor :- GLIAS Database - 2 June 2018
Contributors Society :- Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society
Copyright :- cc-by-nc-sa 4.0 © GLIAS Database

Record Status :- Reviewed
Reviewed By :- Andrew Turner - 26 November 2021


Description and History

Major letter and parcel sorting office established 1889. Impressive interwar facade on south.

Main depot of the Post Office Railway, Whitechapel-Liverpool St Station-King Edward St-Mount Pleasant-Holborn-West End-Paddington Station (6.5 miles). Engineer H. Dalrymple-Hay, 9 ft internal dia. twin-track running tunnel, 2 ft. gauge, automatic control, commenced construction 1914, opened 1927. Conveyors, lifts and spiral chutes from ground level. The 26 acre site included the Post Office Railway's surface yard and gantry crane alongside Phoenix Place; this is where rolling stock transfers to and from the surface could be made; the PO Railway depot and workshops (cut and cover) is immediately below. The computerised PO Railway control room was in the main building. The entire PO Railway closed in March 2003, now a visitor attraction.

Further Reading and References

https://www.postalmuseum.org/

Previous Comments:-

The 26 acre site includes the Post Office Railway's surface yard and gantry crane alongside Phoenix Place; this is where rolling stock transfers to and from the surface can be made; the PO Railway depot and workshops (cut and cover) is immediately below. The computerised PO Railway control room is on the ? 1st or 2nd floor of the main building. The entire PO Railway is scheduled to close 28 March 2003 - Paul W. SOWAN - Paul Sowan
--- the following annotation is from Bob Rust, GLIAS : It has three Postcodes EC1 1AZ/1BB/1BP.
Could split site into two entries - Andrew Turner - 26 November 2021 - Robert Mason - 6 June 2022

Note:- these comments have NOT been REVIEWED


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